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Fast-Growing Android Devices Gaining on iPhone Traffic
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72484
Google-owned AdMob is offering new data that suggest Android devices are Apple's largest competitor. Not surprisingly, especially given the growing number of devices powered by Android, the open-source platform is gaining ground in the smartphone market.
But what does this mean for the iPhone? Could Android phones collectively become the iPhone killer? Or will the iPad revitalize the Apple OS?
In February, the leading smartphone operating systems in the AdMob network were the iPhone OS, Android and Symbian, respectively. Over the last year, the iPhone increased its share of smartphone requests from 33 percent to 50 percent, mostly at the expense of Symbian. Symbian's share of requests fell from 43 percent to 18 percent. It appears Symbian also lost momentum to Google's Android.
Android was the fastest-growing operating system in the AdMob network year over year. Android's share of smartphone requests increased from a mere two percent in February 2009 to 24 percent in February 2010. According to AdMob, the top five Android devices worldwide, by traffic, were the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, HTC Magic, and the Motorola CLIQ.
AdMob also looked at the overall growth of the smartphone market. In February, the company said smartphones accounted for 48 percent of its worldwide traffic. That's up from 35 percent in February 2009. Android and iPhone traffic drove most of the increase. In absolute terms, smartphone traffic soared 193 percent over the last year.
While smartphone traffic increased, feature phones declined from 58 percent to 35 percent of AdMob's total traffic. Noteworthy is the fact that while the share of traffic from feature phones as a category declined, feature-phone traffic grew 31 percent year over year in absolute numbers.
Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG Electronics were the top manufacturers of feature phones in the AdMob study. Specifically, the top...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Google, Microsoft Join Effort To Update Privacy Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72483
Google and Microsoft have found something they can agree on: Privacy in electronic communications. The rivals will put down their competitive swords long enough to collaborate with a cadre of privacy groups, think tanks, academics and other tech companies.
The coalition, dubbed Digital Due Process, will work to update a key federal law that defines the rules for government access to e-mail and private files stored in the cloud. The members cited the need to preserve traditional privacy rights in the face of technological change, while also ensuring that law-enforcement agencies can carry out investigations and the industry has the clarity needed to innovate.
"Citizens need government action to ensure that as more information moves from the desktop to the cloud, the country retains the traditional balance of privacy vis-à-vis the state, said Mike Hintze, associate general counsel at Microsoft. Many Americans take for granted the protections of the Bill of Rights that prevent the government from coming into people's homes without a valid search warrant. The rise of cloud computing should not diminish these privacy safeguards.
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Tech Has Changed, But the Law Has Not
/subhead
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Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has led the coalition effort, put it this way: Technology has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, but the law has not.
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The traditional standard for the government to search your home or office and read your mail or seize your personal papers is a judicial warrant, Dempsey said. The law needs to be clear that the same standard applies to e-mail and documents stored with a service provider, while at the same time be flexible enough to meet law-enforcement needs.
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In an effort to set a consistent standard that lines up with traditional rules for law-enforcement access in the brick-and-mortar world, the coalition is...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Oracle Will Make Changes in Solaris and Java
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72477
The future for Sun Microsystems' Solaris operating system and Java programming language are beginning to crystallize at Oracle, which completed its acquisition of Sun earlier this year. Among other things, Solaris is expected to morph from a formerly free and totally open-source product to one that requires the purchase of a license after an initial 90-day trial, according to media reports.
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Oracle executives have said the company will continue to make OpenSolaris available as an open-source product -- as well as actively support and participate in the open-source community. But there are also hints of a new hybrid strategy under which certain Solaris components could feature proprietary code.
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There may be some things we choose not to open source going forward, said Oracle Director of Solaris Product Management Dan Roberts earlier this month. It's important to understand the plan now is to deliver value again out of our IP investment, while at the same time measuring that with continuing to deliver OpenSolaris in the open.
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subhead
Hard-nosed Decisions
/subhead
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Industry observers don't think the addition of a license fee for Solaris will stop enterprises from adopting the OS. The danger, however, is that any move away from an open-source implementation may discourage participation by the developer community, leading to the product's eventual demise.
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Oracle is famous for making hard-nosed decisions around the cost benefits of investments, noted Al Hilwa, IDC's program director of applications development software. There is no question that they have to figure out how to better monetize the Sun software assets in the future to take what was basically an underperforming software business into a money generator, he said.
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For users of Solaris, this is a plus because solid monetization is the secret to longevity, Hilwa observed. However, there is a balancing act that Oracle has to weigh, since open source can...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
PC Users Like Windows 7 -- and Windows XP
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72475
Early Windows 7 users like the new operating system, but many Windows XP users still like their nine-year-old OS. That's the word from two new reports by Forrester Research, which said that 86 percent of the first users of Microsoft's newest operating system are satisfied.
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The Forrester reports, created from an online survey of 4,559 U.S. consumers, also found that about 43 percent of Windows XP users don't have a reason to upgrade to 7. The biggest competitor to Windows 7 isn't the Mac, said the report. It's Windows XP.
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subhead
'Thinner Client' Helped Upgrading
/subhead
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Forrester noted that, in the past, most PC users did not upgrade to a new OS, although Mac and other technophile consumers have been the exceptions. Most PC users obtained a new OS when they got a new PC, which Forrester calls replacement cycle upgrades.
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But, noted Forrester analyst JP Gownder, the upgrade behavior was much stronger for 7. He attributes this to 7's being a thinner client program than was Windows Vista.
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Previous OSes, he said, were designed with the assumption that they would be used on newer, faster hardware. Many users had to upgrade to new hardware to run Vista, but 7 runs on a variety of existing PCs. The growth of netbooks and the continued use of XP on older machines led to the need for a thinner OS, Gownder said.
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The report found that about 43 percent of surveyed users upgraded to 7 on an existing PC from an older operating system, and about 45 percent got 7 when they bought a new PC.
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The Forrester report also found that there is widespread awareness of Windows 7, with the vast majority of U.S. consumers -- about 90 percent -- aware of it by the end of last year. More than 60 million...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Apple's Planned CDMA iPhone May Be for Verizon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72461
Will Apple offer the iPhone through Verizon Wireless? That question is being asked by industry analysts following a report Tuesday that the company is developing a CDMA-based iPhone.
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The report in The Wall Street Journal is attributed to unnamed people briefed by Apple. The current iPhone carrier partner in the U.S., ATT Wireless, uses GSM technology, while Verizon uses CDMA. Although Sprint Nextel also uses CDMA, Verizon is ATT's largest competitor, and there has been speculation over the last few months that Verizon might acquire the iPhone after ATT's exclusive period expires.
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subhead
'Only Apple Knows'
/subhead
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The report led to a four-month high Tuesday for Verizon's stock price. Some analysts believe iPhone availability could mean an additional 3.5 million customers for the carrier within the first six months.
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Verizon and Apple have declined to comment on the story, but a spokesperson for ATT told news media that there has been speculation about a CDMA iPhone for a long time, and that only Apple knows when that might occur.
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While GSM is the most popular network standard in the world, a CDMA iPhone could be picked up by carriers in Asia, who also use the technology. In fact, some analysts are suggesting that, if the report about the manufacturing plans is accurate, the CDMA iPhones could be targeted toward those Asian carriers rather than Verizon.
p
The Journal also reported that Apple intends to release a new iPhone model this summer as part of its regular upgrade cycle. The only details offered by the publication were that the new model will probably be thinner and have a faster processor than current versions.
p
The competition between ATT and Verizon has been altered by the iPhone, which has helped ATT obtain 43 percent of smartphone customers in the U.S., and ATT's growth in recent quarters has been largely driven by the iPhone....
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Microsoft, Apple Releases Fix Security Vulnerabilities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72460
Microsoft on Tuesday was to release an out-of-band emergency patch for Internet Explorer. Security update MS10-018 was to roll out at approximately 1 p.m. EST to address a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 and 7.
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Jerry Bryant, group manager for the response communications team at the Microsoft Security Response Center, recommends customers install the update as soon as it's available. Because it's a cumulative update, it will also address nine other vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, some of which affect IE 8, that were planned for release on April 13.
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Once applied, customers are protected against the known attacks related to Security Advisory 981374, said Bryant. We have been monitoring this issue and have determined an out-of-band release is needed to protect customers. For customers using automatic updates, this update will automatically be applied once it is released.
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subhead
Hackers Actively Exploiting IE
/subhead
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Hackers have been actively exploiting the IE vulnerability for a couple of weeks now, attempting to infect computers by luring unsuspecting users to click on dangerous links, said Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos. He's not surprised, then, to see Microsoft breaking its normal patch schedule.
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Of course, if people had already upgraded to Internet Explorer 8, then they wouldn't have to be patching their systems. In many ways this can be considered another nail in the coffin of the now ancient and woefully poor Internet Explorer 6, Cluley said.
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The big question is, when will we stop nailing the coffin lid down and finally bury it! If you haven't already thought about your migration plan from IE 6 or 7 to IE 8, or perhaps an alternative browser, now might be the time to give it serious consideration, he added.
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subhead
Apple Plugs Security Holes
/subhead
p
Microsoft isn't the only tech giant issuing fixes this week. On Monday, Apple released a major update...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
iPad's Widely Mocked Moniker Won't Stifle Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72452
When Steve Jobs announced in January that Apple's new tablet would be called the iPad, some fans ridiculed the name, saying it conjured up images of feminine hygiene products rather than cutting-edge mobile gadgetry.
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Two months later, branding experts say the name has punchy appeal and that jokes won't deter women -- or men, for that matter -- from buying Apple's tablet computer, which goes on sale in the U.S. Apr. 3. The minute you hear it, you know who brought it to you, how it's going to work, that it's high quality, and how it even looks, said Hayes Roth, chief marketing officer for brand consulting firm Landor Associates. The name does all that in just four letters. That's amazing.
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The i prefix on product names has become a convention that many consumers associate with Apple. Products including the iPod digital music player, iPhone, and iMac computers employ the designation. Apple bought the iPad trademark from Fujitsu for an undisclosed sum, according to records with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office. The iPad will be capable of wirelessly serving up Web pages, e-mail, music, TV, and electronic books and periodicals.
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Businesswomen in Silicon Valley said jokes about the iPad's name don't ring true. Esther Dyson, a longtime computer industry commentator, said the feminine hygiene reference to iPad wasn't her initial reaction. I guess I have been i-conditioned by Apple, she says.
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subhead
3G Wireless iPad Models Due in April
/subhead
P
Jennifer Jones, a veteran Valley marketing executive and creator of a series of podcasts called Marketing Voices, says the iPad name works as part of a product line. I did not think of the feminine side of it.
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Apple plans initially to sell three iPad models, starting at $499, with built-in support for Wi-Fi wireless networking. Three additional models that can communicate over high-speed 3G wireless...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Get Started with Videoconferencing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72448
Outfit your PC with a webcam and microphone, and you can take advantage of the exciting world of videoconferencing software. The advantages of being able to see as well as hear people over the Internet are self evident. We communicate as much visually as we do through our words, so video paired with voice can open up new opportunities for you online. But very few people are taking advantage of the videoconferencing tools now available. Read on for some tips about how to get started.
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bQ/b: What are some options for setting up simultaneous voice and video calls with multiple participants?
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A: Most of the robust solutions for hosting video chats or conferences with many participants are fee-based. But there are several that are free, with Mebeam (http://www.mebeam.com) being arguably the easiest to get started with quickly.
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Using Mebeam couldn't be easier. Just log on to the site, type the name of a room for your conference, and click Connect. Tell the other participants to log on to Mebeam and type that same name into the Connect box, and you'll all show up in the browser. Mebeam works for videoconferences up to 16 people. Just make sure all participants are set up with a microphone and web cam before beginning the session. Other free options include ooVoo (http://www.oovoo.com), SightSpeed (http://www.sightspeed.com), Yugma (https://www.yugma.com), and tokbox (http://www.tokbox.com).
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Fee-based videoconferencing packages give you much more functionality than the free solutions and are better suited to more formal meetings. Perhaps the premier package in this space is Adobe's Acrobat Connect Pro (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro). Also a browser-based solution, Connect Pro can accommodate up to 100 participants and provides such features as integrated chat, file sharing, a white board, screen sharing, and session recording. It's a powerful package, and if you'll be holding regular videoconferences, the 45 or 55 dollar per...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Uploading and Uplifting: Sharing Big Data Files
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72446
There's usually no difficulty storing a couple of hundred megabytes (MB) worth of vacation photos on one's hard drive. But how to get them to far-flung friends and family?
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Burning all that data onto a CD and sending it through the mail is one option. But a more elegant method is to send the data online and you can share more than just photographs.
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For small data files, it's best to use email or an instant messenger service like ICQ, MSN or Skype, says Mirko Schubert of Netzwelt, a German online magazine.
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The disadvantage is that the full bandwidth is generally not used and it can take a while to transmit large data files. Email programs usually only allow attachments of between three and 25 megabytes. As a plus, the transfer can happen almost instantaneously.
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But that's not the case with larger data packets. That's when it's time to turn to file sharing services like Rapidshare (www.rapidshare.com) or Megaupload (www.megaupload.com), says Bastian Stein of Chip, a German computing magazine.
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The idea is to put data up online with just a few clicks, making it accessible to many. Data files can be between 100 and 300 MB, says Schubert. The person who uploads the data is given a web address, which he can then share with others who want to view the files.
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But these kinds of portals are a hunting ground for data pirates, says Stein. Unintended users can often stumble across the data, since the links to the data are often cataloged and made accessible by metasites. That means think twice about what you upload. Also, bear in mind that, free, one-click services only offer limited bandwidth.
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Sharing hosters go one step further. Opening an account with such a service offers gigabytes of storage space to use. After the data is uploaded, an email can be...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
More Mea Culpas From Big-Time Hacker
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72442
For the second time in as many days, a computer hacker accused of one of the largest-ever thefts of credit and debit card numbers stood before a federal judge and apologized for his actions.
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I have violated the sanctity of millions of individuals around the United States, said Albert Gonzalez, in pleading for lenience. I'm guilty of the crimes ... I accept full responsibility for my actions.
p
Federal Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced Gonzalez to 20 years and a day in prison, but ordered that the term run concurrently with a 20-year term Gonzalez received from a different judge Thursday in two related cases.
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The concurrent sentence means the 28-year-old Miami man, a one-time federal informant, will not serve any significant additional prison time.
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Woodlock said he believed the sentence was sufficient to deliver a message of deterrence to other technologically-gifted individuals from pursuing similar crimes.
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You're in your mid-20s. You're going to be in your mid-40s when you get out, the judge said to Gonzalez. That's a tremendous loss.
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The case Friday involved the theft of credit card numbers from the Scarsborough, Maine-based Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain, Dallas-based convenience store chain 7-Eleven, and Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor.
p
Thursday's sentence stemmed from two cases that were combined and involved major retailers including TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club, Barnes Noble, OfficeMax, and the restaurant chain Dave Buster's.
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Prosecutors said tens of millions of credit and debit cards numbers were stolen, costing the companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million.
p
Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty, was also fined $25,000 by Woodlock and will be required to serve three years of supervised probation following his release from prison. Prosecutors had sought a 25-year sentence, while defense attorney Martin Weinberg asked that his client serve 15 years.
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Gonzalez still faces a hearing in June on what restitution he might...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
Connecticut Passes 'Pro-Jobs' Call-Center Legislation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72439
Trying to halt telecommunications job losses in Connecticut, unions and their allies in the General Assembly have cleared a first hurdle for legislation setting new rules for how companies' call centers are staffed.
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The legislation overcame opposition from telephone companies that denounced it as an attempt to micromanage their business and state regulators who called it discriminatory.
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Telephone company employees who call or are called by customers must, upon request, identify the city, state and country where they work, according to the legislation. If the employee is not in Connecticut, the customer can be transferred to a call center in the state when possible, or if a call center exists.
p
In addition, the state Department of Information Technology, when buying products or services, would be required to give preference to telecommunications companies that have a high percentage of service calls directed to in-state call centers.
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The legislation also would require telecommunications companies to provide to the state each year the locations of centers receiving calls from customers in Connecticut.
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The bill was approved Tuesday by the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee on a party line vote, with majority Democrats voting in favor and Republicans in opposition.
p
It's pro-jobs, said Sen. Gary LeBeau, an East Hartford Democrat and a sponsor of the bill. I think that's what people's concerns are right now.
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Rep. Vickie Nardello, co-chairwoman of the committee, said she is concerned that large companies such as ATT are moving jobs out of the state.
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What's best for Connecticut's economy? Jobs, she said.
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Bill Henderson, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1298 in Connecticut, said union membership has dropped nearly 35 percent, from 6,533 in 2001 to 4,277 last year as ATT has shifted jobs out of state.
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These are good jobs needed in Connecticut, he said.
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Chuck Coursey, a spokesman for ATT, said the company provided nearly all...
Wed, 31 Mar 10
A Tough Road for Apps That Curb Texting While Driving
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72438
Cars use lights, bells and buzzers to remind drivers to fasten their seat belts as they start their engines.
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It would seem natural, then, to offer motorists friendly, yet stern warnings about another bad habit: holding a cell phone while driving, whether for texting or talking.
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Several software and gadget companies -- many of them at the country's biggest trade show for the wireless industry last week in Las Vegas -- have sprung up to address that challenge. But creating an effective, widespread solution looks a lot harder than putting in reminders for seat belts.
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Furthermore, we're only just beginning to figure out what constitutes a dangerous distraction, and how best to curb it. Are handsfree conversations dangerous? What about dictating text messages to your phone? Does everyone need help staying away from the phone while driving, or just teens and employees?
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Many states ban drivers from using cell phones without handsfree devices, but a recent insurance industry study found that such laws haven't reduced crashes. It's not clear why, but one reason might be that drivers flout the laws.
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At least a dozen startups have produced phone applications designed to curb the temptation to use the phone while driving.
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But these applications work only on some phones and have a hard time figuring out if the user is actually driving. Potentially important players -- wireless carriers, cell phone makers, auto manufacturers and the federal government -- have yet to step in, leaving the field to smaller companies that lack the clout to put services in widespread use.
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And some of the tools might not even improve safety.
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Technology without a clear vision for how it's going to actually help drivers could end up doing more harm than good, said John Lee, professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
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For instance, Drive Safely...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Victorinox Offers Mission Impossible Secure USB Drives
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72458
Victorinox intends to add a USB memory stick to its lineup of iconic tools that fold out from the casing of the company's popular Swiss Army knives. The hook that Victorinox announced Friday is that the new products will also sport high-tech security features aimed at preventing the devices from being accessed by others if lost or stolen.
"Life is becoming more digital every day, and yet people do so little to protect their data," said the new product line's designer, Martin Kuster. "The world's most common password is '12345' -- and even encryption can be broken, given time."
The new memory-stick devices from Victorinox will even sport a fingerprint scanner linked to a heat and oxygen sensor capable of determining whether the user's finger is still attached to a living person, the company said. Also on tap is a Mission Impossible-style self-destruct mechanism that will fry the device's internal circuitry in the event that anyone attempts to physically crack the case.
The available memory aboard each USB-enabled knife is expected to range from 8GB to 32GB, depending on the model selected. To prevent Victorinox Secure devices from attracting the attention of airport security workers, road warriors will have the option of detaching the memory drive from the knife's housing when traveling by air.
Victorinox Secure devices integrate single-chip technology that eliminates the need for external and accessible lines between the different coding/security steps, the company said. The data on this chip is also secured through the use of AES256 encryption -- the same 256-bit cypher that the U.S. government has adopted for securing sensitive information.
In addition to the USB drive, the new lineup of Swiss Army knives will include a retractable ballpoint pen, a blade, scissors, a nail file with screwdriver, and a key ring. Frequent fliers...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Nvidia's Fermi GPUs Target Hard-Core Gamers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72457
Now that the dust has settled on PAX East, Nvidia is rolling out its new flagship graphics processors. The first products in its highly anticipated Fermi line, Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 target hard-core gamers who demand potent tessellation performance.
Tessellation is what allows game developers to leverage the GeForce GTX 480 GPU to increase the geometric complexity of models and characters. The new GPUs also offer PC-gaming features like support for real-time ray tracing and 3D Vision Surround for a widescreen 3-D gaming experience. Translated, all this means more realistic and visually appealing games.
Although early reviews demonstrate that the new GPUs are up to 10 to 15 percent faster than the comparative ATI Radeon card, Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, said there are also reports that the cards run hot and consume plenty of energy. That might not be a good combination in an office cubicle.
"Frankly, generating heat and consuming energy aren't typically big issues if we are talking about computer gamers, but in scenarios where these cards are being used for industrial settings or to improve performance in work environments, power efficiency and heat creation are issues that some companies take very seriously," King said. "You don't want to have to turn the air conditioning in a graphics department down to 50 just because everybody's legs are staying toasty."
While the jury may be out on corporate use of the Fermi GPUs, Microsoft's gaming division has been eagerly anticipating the new cards because the company believes they pave the way to better PC gaming.
Mike Angiulo, general manager of Windows planning and the PC ecosystem at Microsoft, said DirectX 11 for Windows 7 was designed with native support for GPGPU, tessellation and improved multi-threading.
"Nvidia clearly embraced this and designed the GTX 480...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
No Joke! Sony's April 1 PS3 Update Kills Linux Support
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72456
Sony Computer Entertainment recently slashed the price of its popular PlayStation 3 gaming console, and now it is slashing a feature from the device: PS3 gamers no longer will have the option to use other operating systems, including Linux, according to Sony.
A new software update to be released this week will eliminate the OS-choice feature. Sony said it had its consumers in mind when it made the decision to disable the feature.
"The decision was made to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system for those users who are enjoying games and other entertainment content on the PS3," said Julie Han, a Sony spokesperson.
In the next system-software update (3.21) for the PlayStation 3, the "Install Other OS" feature will be disabled. The feature was available on older PS3 systems. Gamers who own an existing slimmer model of the PS3 will not be affected by the update.
"In addition, disabling the 'Install Other OS' feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system," Han said.
For those users who have utilized the "other OS" feature and plan to run the update, Sony warns that they should first back up any data stored on the hard drive used by the alternate OS. Backing up the data will help users to avoid data loss and will enable them to have access to the stored data after the 3.21 upgrade.
Sony's move was a formal about-face since Linux was touted as a differentiator at one time, according to Lewis Ward, an IDC analyst. "I can't imagine more than one percent of PS3 owners actually installed it,"...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
AMD Makes Big Promises with New Opteron 6000 Series
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72455
Advanced Micro Devices on Monday introduced its latest Intel fighter, the Opteron 6000 series. AMD is making big promises with the new processor that addresses what it sees as pain points for today's server customers.
The Opteron 6000 accomplishes this with eight- and 12-core x86 processors aimed at the high-volume 2P and value 4P server market. The platform boasts up to 119 percent improved performance over AMD's last generation server chips without boosting the price or losing any power. The message behind the Opteron 6000 series is more cores and performance for less money.
"We are seeing further evidence of a divergence in the x86 server space," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "There is a fundamental divergence between what AMD and Intel are doing. For many years, people got a little too used to the idea that there was a certain level of parity between the companies' systems."
King said that notion of parity ended when AMD first introduced its Opteron product in the first half of this decade. The Opteron caused Intel to rush to catch up to AMD. Intel seized the lead from AMD, both technologically speaking and in mindshare, in the last couple of years. Now, King said, AMD is looking to take back some turf.
"AMD is looking to gain ground not by having the biggest, baddest best chip on the market so much as they are blending a notable boost in performance with very aggressive pricing, and also with claims of significantly better power consumption," King said. "That said, it's going to take a while to sort out the relative merits of different systems based on these chips. To my mind, increasingly, especially on the server side of the business, a microprocessor is just one piece of a large complex system story."
With the Opteron...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Brightcove HTML5 Could Fill Flash Void on Apple Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72453
Even though many sites use Flash-based video and animation in their content and advertising, Apple has been adamant about not allowing Flash on its popular iPhone, iPod touch, or the upcoming iPad. But the new HTML5, with its expanded interactive multimedia capabilities, took another step Monday toward being a viable alternative as Brightcove, an online video platform, announced a framework for "video experiences" specifically for HTML5 devices.
Called the Brightcove Experience for HTML5, the offering is free to existing customers and available in 42 countries. CEO Jeremy Allaire said the solution, specifically intended for Apple devices, "fills the gap between the current playback capabilities of the emerging standard" of HTML5 and "what our customers need to operate successful online video businesses."
The framework offers support for intelligent device detection, playlist rendering, and H.264 video playback. Device detection means the framework will automatically switch between the Flash and HTML5 player templates, depending on the device.
The company said it will enlarge the platform later this year to include customization and branding of the player, advertising, analytics, social sharing, and other Brightcove functions.
Companies already working with Brightcove's HTML5 framework to create iPad-compatible sites include The New York Times and Time magazine. Some companies, such as CBS and YouTube, are already experimenting with their own HTML5 video player, if the site detects that a user is visiting on an iPad.
But while HTML5 is an open standard, the H.264 encoding used for video on the iPad is under patent protection. Some members of the open-source community are promoting the use of HTML5 with an open-source compression-decompression technology called Ogg Theora, but that codec has been criticized for quality.
Al Hilwa, program director at industry research firm IDC, said that, until some other issues are resolved, solutions such as Brightcove's "are...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Beware! First Week of April Brings Spyware Infections
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72435
EUGENE, OR (March 25, 2010) -– SUPERAntiSpyware.com, a Pacific Northwest developer of state-of-the-art anti-spyware solutions, wants to remind computer users that the first week of April typically brings an increase in new spyware infections. It's become something of an annual tradition that causes havoc for computer users, lost productivity, increased expenses, and overall inconvenience.
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This period of increased spyware activity is a good time to remind computer users to be extra vigilant:
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Don't open emails –- especially files or attachments –- from people you don't know.
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Don't be fooled by scareware tactics. Know what software you are using, and familiarize yourself with how it delivers warnings and alerts.
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If you're considering giving your social networking activities a break, now might be a good time. No one will miss you if you take a week off.
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Be extra cautious before visiting websites that you haven't visited before. Think before you click!
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Run multiple layers of security software. There are many free and effective solutions that will co-exist well with each other. Remember, a single solution may not be enough, especially during this period of increased spyware activity.
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SUPERAntiSpyware, downloaded over 30 million times, has been designed to act as your primary security solution or to complement an existing solution, providing an excellent layered approach to protection.
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Spyware and malware authors have become more creative, and there are many new infections that have greatly reduced the effectiveness of traditional detection and removal techniques, said Nick Skrepetos, founder of SUPERAntiSpyware.com. These new infections render existing anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions ineffective.
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Skrepetos added, To combat this trend, SUPERAntiSpyware has released its SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Edition (www.superantispyware.com/portable) and SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan. Both tools have been developed specifically to fight this new class of challenging infections and are available free for home users at www.superantispyware.com.
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SUPERAntiSpyware Free and...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
RIM Acquires BlackBerry Software Developer Viigo
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72434
Research In Motion, maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, has added another company to its list of acquisitions. RIM acquired Toronto, Canada-based Viigo, the creator of the popular software application Viigo for BlackBerry, one year after acquiring encryption supplier Certicom.
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Research In Motion, based in Waterloo, Canada, hasn't released details of the acquisition. Viigo, however, broke the news on its web site late Friday.
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Viigo is excited to announce that our company is now part of Research In Motion, wrote CEO Mark Ruddock. To the Viigo team -- a very special thanks to all of you for helping to build such an exciting product and a wonderful company. We've arrived at this point today because of you.
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As part of RIM, Ruddock said Viigo will continue to plug away at BlackBerry application development and real-time content delivery.
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subheadBeyond Business/subhead
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RIM, founded in 1985, had its greatest success when it launched its first BlackBerry phones in 1999. Executives at the company set an aggressive path for RIM's BlackBerrys, which in the early years competed for the attention of business professionals. Six years after successfully launching BlackBerry, however, RIM paid $612.5 million to settle a patent dispute with Virginia-based NTP. The payout avoided the possible closure of its service and enabled RIM to stay in the game.
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Hanging on paid off. A decade after first launching BlackBerry, RIM has sold more than 50 million BlackBerry devices and expanded from selling to professional businesspersons to average mobile-phone users.
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Now RIM plans to hold on to that success with the addition of Viigo.
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While Viigo already has a relationship with RIM through its software for BlackBerry, it isn't clear whether Viigo will continue to offer its software to RIM competitors such as HTC. Viigo currently provides its software on smartphones running Windows Mobile, including the HTC Snap, HTC...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Passover Seders Will Be Shared with Postings To Twitter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72433
When Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt thousands of years ago, he could have never imagined the story being told 140 characters at a time. But when Jews around the world gather for the Passover seder Monday and Tuesday nights, some of those who find it hard to break their Twitter habit won't have to choose between the two.
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subheadStrong Following/subhead
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Last year, more than 1,500 people followed a Twitter seder, or tweder, from around the world, with updates for each step of the family-oriented ritual, from dipping parsley in salt water to remember the bitter tears of bondage, through the four questions, finding the afikomen (hidden matzah), and the extra cup of wine dedicated to Elijah the prophet.
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It's all the brainchild of Daniel Berkal, a 31-year-old marketing consultant who started tweeting at his family's seder at a Chicago hotel last year and was surprised how many responses he got back from people doing the same, adding dimensions to his commentary. This year he expects a substantially larger number to follow him at twitter.com/tweder.
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Strictly observant Jews do not use any electrical devices or cars during Sabbath or holidays, so the tweder isn't targeting traditionalists. But Berkal is hoping he'll reach Jews in parts of the world where they can't find others with whom to celebrate the festive meal. I think this serves a direct need for a community that seems marginalized, Berkal told The New York Jewish Week.
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That hasn't stopped critics who feel he's watering down the experience, taking a time-honored tradition into uncharted social-media territory where meaning can only be lost in truncation.
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subheadNot for Purists/subhead
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There has been some significant backlash from those more zealous who are concerned about the usage of technology during the holidays, Berkal told us. He said Passover purists are undoubtedly unimpressed with the tweder.
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Berkal isn't...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Advance Orders Exhaust Expected Supply of iPads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72432
Ready to get over your skepticism about Apple's iPad and place your pre-order? Go ahead, but if you haven't already ordered you won't get an iPad until April 12 at the earliest, Apple's online store indicated Friday. People who placed pre-orders before March 27 will get their iPads on Saturday, April 3. If you order this week, you'll get a new iPad on April 12.
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Apple retail stores around the country indicated that pre-orders have already exhausted their supplies. A store in Portland said if customers don't claim their iPads by 3 p.m. on April 3, the units will be put on sale to walk-in customers. They're not expected to last long, though.
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Apple blogger Daniel Tello is estimating pre-sales of 240,000 iPads in the first two weeks the public has been able to order the machine. Pre-orders were 120,000 the first day and 190,000 the first week, Tello says.
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subhead
High Expectations
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Tello's estimates are based on user-submitted web order numbers. On the first day of pre-sales, Tello compared overall daily sales compared to sales on more normal days. He figured the baseline for online orders for all products at 600 per hour.
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Yet for the first six hours since the store opened, we've seen the sequence increase by more than 88,000 orders in total. That's the baseline daily volume, per hour! For the last two or three hours the rate has moderated to about 7,000 per hour, from more than a thousand per minute in the first 15-20 minutes, he wrote on March 12.
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While such educated guesses are rife with the potential for error, Apple has never publicly set sales goals for the launch. Clearly, though, Apple CEO Steve Jobs expects great things from the iPad. Perhaps even more than with the iPhone, Jobs believes he has a machine that can live...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Wireless Providers See Big Opportunities in the Net
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72424
Wireless phone providers are about to broaden the reach of their broadband services and give them a big bump in speed as they salivate over opportunities to connect everything from multimedia smartphones to dog collars.
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You'll see new categories of (mobile Internet) entertainment and multimedia devices that aren't (conventional) phones, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said at the CTIA Wireless convention [in Las Vegas]. It will change the way we think of wireless.
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The industry is hungry for opportunities: Now that just about anyone who wants a cell phone has one, wireless service providers are facing very difficult times due to slowing growth, says Dan Hays, director of telecom at management consulting firm PRTM. That's putting a pressure on profits.
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But executives are on a high after watching consumers spend $41 billion last year on wireless Internet, up 28 percent from 2008. To keep that going, [many]of the industry's giants announced plans for next-generation networks or phones.
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Although they're using several different technologies, nearly all of the upgrades are being marketed as fourth-generation, or 4G, improvements:
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*Verizon and smaller rival MetroPCS are boosting their networks with a technology called Long Term Evolution, or LTE, that may increase data speeds by up to 10 times their current rate.
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*Sprint plans to introduce its first 4G phone, by handset-maker HTC, this summer. The phone will run on a wireless technology called WiMax, which shares its roots with Wi-Fi.
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*T-Mobile is rolling out High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+), a technology that will allow consumers to wirelessly download a movie in 17 minutes, the company says.
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ATT had previously announced its strategy. It will focus on its existing 3G network for now and will start building out LTE next year.
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Phone carriers and manufacturers are trotting out state-of-the-art devices designed to take advantage of those network investments....
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Emerging Markets Rise in Tech Readiness
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72422
Here's a quick quiz: Which country has the most mobile-phone connections in the world? According to the International Telecommunications Union, China is by far the largest, with an estimated 641 million mobile subscribers as of the end of 2008 -- more than twice the number five years earlier and easily double the market in the U.S.
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China's growing telecom sector is just one example of how emerging economies are taking on a larger role in the technology industry. The latest annual Global Information Technology Report, released on Mar. 25 by the World Economic Forum [WEF] in Geneva, finds that such countries as India, Malaysia, and Vietnam are among the fastest-growing centers for IT anywhere in the world.
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The WEF ranks countries on such factors as public- and private-sector use of technology, consumer access to the latest gadgets, and the quality of infrastructure, such as 3G mobile networks and broadband connectivity. While Western countries -- especially the Nordic nations -- still dominate the top rungs, the developing world is rising fast.
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Europe and North America will have to innovate to stay ahead, says Soumitra Dutta, professor of information systems at French business school Insead, who co-authored the report. It won't be long before someone like China or India breaks into the top 20.
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subhead
Leapfrogging Development
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The emerging giants' success isn't due to luck, of course. From Beijing to Bombay, policymakers have spent billions of dollars to upgrade or subsidize development of domestic phone lines and Internet connections to give local businesses an edge. That has allowed certain regions, such as financial center Shanghai or outsourcing capital Bangalore, to match rival cities in developed countries. The fast-declining cost of technology, particularly mobile phones and other computing devices, also has allowed many countries to leapfrog generations of IT. With access to the latest technology, local companies...
Tue, 30 Mar 10
Verizon Winds Down Expensive FiOS Expansion
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72416
If Verizon Communications Inc. hasn't already started wiring your city or town with its FiOS fiber-optic TV and broadband service, chances are you won't get it.
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Where it's available, FiOS usually provides the only competition for cable TV apart from satellite service. Studies have shown that its entry into an area leads to lower cable prices, though FiOS itself has not been undercutting cable TV prices substantially.
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But Verizon is nearing the end of its program to replace copper phone lines with optical fibers that provide much higher Internet speeds and TV service. Its focus is now on completing the network in the communities where it's already secured franchises, the rights to sell TV service that rivals cable, said spokeswoman Heather Wilner.
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That means Verizon will continue to pull fiber to homes in Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia -- projects that will take years to complete -- but leaves such major cities as Baltimore and downtown Boston without FiOS.
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Verizon is still negotiating for franchises in some smaller communities, mainly in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, but it is not working on securing franchises for any major urban areas, Wilner said. For instance, it's halted negotiations for the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va.
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Verizon never committed to bringing FiOS to its entire local-phone service area. It has introduced FiOS in 16 states, but the deployment is concentrated on the East Coast, and Verizon is selling off most of its service areas in the Midwest and on the West Coast. Its stated goal was to make FiOS available to 18 million households by the end of 2010, and it's on track to reach or exceed that.
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That will still leave nearly half of its service area without fiber. And as Verizon has signaled this month that it's focusing on communities where it already has franchises,...
Sun, 28 Mar 10
Verizon Blasts 'Outdated' FCC Broadband Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72429
Verizon Communications is denouncing the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan, saying it was created with old services such as telephone, radio and cable in mind. The NBP, rolled out by the FCC last week, aims to provide at least 100 million homes in the U.S. affordable Internet access at download speeds of 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of 50 megabits per second.
Verizon Vice President Thomas Tauke said the FCC didn't take enough time to write the rules and moved too quickly to use those rules to regulate the Internet. The rules are confusing and obscure, Tauke said at an event sponsored by the New Democrat Network.
"We want order, but we also don't want to hinder innovation and investment in this dynamic broadband and Internet marketplace," Tauke said.
His comments come just a week after Verizon released a statement saying it commended FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the NBP Task Force for developing a coherent plan and addressing the array of broadband issues.
After dissecting the 300-plus-page plan, Verizon made a few suggestions. Consumers should be in charge by being able to choose the devices, software, applications and access they want, according to Tauke.
Because companies are facing a slew of challenges, including five billion cyberattack threats monitored each day, privacy and security are a concern. The FCC needs to consider the privacy and security of U.S. Internet users utilizing social networking, online banking, and e-commerce, Verizon said.
But Verizon's biggest complaint is with subsidies. While the company said the FCC's plan to address facility-based deployment in high-cost areas is heading in the right direction, the plan needs a new approach to address providing low-income homes with Internet access.
Verizon suggested the FCC follow the same government subsidy programs currently in place such as fuel...
Sun, 28 Mar 10
Nokia Buys Novarra, Will Give Mobile Web More Zing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72428
Nokia said Friday that it is acquiring mobile-browser and service-platform provider Novarra in a deal that is expected to close in the second quarter. Following the acquisition, Novarra will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia. The financial terms were not disclosed.
Nokia said it intends to use Novarra's mobile web platform for network operators, device manufacturers, and Internet brands to deliver enhanced web experiences on its mobile phones. Based in Chicago, privately held Novarra, which has 100 employees, has already deployed its technology with leading mobile operators around the world.
"Delivering an optimized Internet experience on our devices is core to our mission," said Nokia Executive Vice President Niklas Savander. "Novarra's Internet services technology delivered on the world's most widely used mobile platform, Nokia's Series 40, will help us achieve this."
Novarra's principal mobile technology has two parts, called the Vision Browser and the Vision Server. Customers include industry giants Palm, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Yahoo.
The Vision Browser, which is designed for deployment on Java, BREW and C++ devices, delivers a PC-like experience that includes the delivery of mobile Web 2.0, multimedia, RSS, widgets and contextual advertising. Featuring a modular and customizable framework, Vision Browser also "can be tailored and integrated with each handset's specific hardware and software features and capabilities," Novarra said.
The company's carrier-grade Vision Server likewise features a flexible architecture that gives network operators and handset manufacturers the ability to generate new revenue by enriching and monetizing mobile content based on Internet click-stream analytics. Vision Server is available in Linux, Windows and Solaris implementations.
Other carrier benefits of the Vision platform include a reduction in network and content delivery costs and complexity, Novarra said. Additionally, network operators can either select and integrate various components of the Vision Browser and Vision Server into their infrastructure, or utilize...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Card Hacker SoupNazi Gets 20 Years Behind Bars
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72427
SoupNazi, the hacker who found himself in hot water for infiltrating millions of credit accounts in the nation's biggest computer-crime case, was sentenced in a Boston federal court Thursday to 20 years behind bars. The time he must serve could be increased Friday as he faced a judge in a separate federal case involving crimes in New Jersey.
Albert Gonzalez, 28, who pulled off the Brinks job of the high-tech age, stole as much as $200 million by penetrating the server of a credit-card processing company and intercepting wireless signals from major retail outlets. He used real accounts to create bogus credit cards.
The crimes occurred between 2005 and 2008. Some targeted retailers include TJMax, Marshall's, BJ's and the Sports Authority.
It's the largest identity theft ever prosecuted in the United States, and the toughest sentence ever imposed. Prosecutors said Gonzalez, the son of Cuban immigrants who became a computer whiz at age eight, was committing crimes at the same time he was helping the Secret Service catch other criminals for a salary of $75,000. He got that job in 2003 when he was arrested for fraudulent ATM transactions and recruited as an undercover operative.
"I blame nobody but myself," Gonzalez told U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris before sentencing, according to press reports. He also apologized for betraying "a certain government agency ... that gave me a second chance in life."
His lawyers had argued that he suffered from psychiatric problems, including computer addiction. The government's evidence included chat logs in which he told an accomplice his goal was to earn $15 million.
Gonzalez was indicted in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey for crimes against retailers and customers there, but the first two cases were consolidated into one prosecution.
He faced another sentencing Friday in a separate case involving breaches at Heartland Payment...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
iPad E-Content Prices Emerge as Launch Date Nears
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72426
What will the e-book market look like after Apple's iPad goes on sale April 3? New reports are beginning to paint a picture of at least what pricing might look like.
According to a site that follows Apple products and rumors, prices for most fiction best sellers will be $9.99. App Advice published a pre-release screenshot earlier this week from the upcoming iBookstore, with prices for several current best sellers indicated.
This means that e-best sellers on the iPad will be competitive with Amazon's prices for its Kindle e-reader. Some industry analysts had suggested that prices of popular e-books on the iPad could be higher than Amazon's. This was because Apple is taking a cut of whatever prices publishers set, and because Amazon was cutting prices, sometimes losing money, in order to pump up its market share.
While the prices of best-selling e-books are apparently stabilizing, the pricing structure for iPad-delivered magazines and newspapers looks to be as varied as the publications themselves.
One of the few successful paid-content publishers, The Wall Street Journal, said earlier this week that it plans to charge $17.99 per month for an iPad subscription. The Journal also reported that Esquire magazine will sell a version of its April issue for $2.99, $2 less than on the newsstand, and that it will contain music videos for original songs containing the phrase "somewhere in Mississippi."
In another pricing model, Rodale's Men Health magazine will offer 10 free, ad-supported pages from its April and May issues, but a download of the full issue will be same as the newsstand price -- $4.99.
It's possible the e-book market will allow for some crossover of titles from one source on another company's playback device, which could result in rapidly changing pricing models.
Ross Rubin, director of industry...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Netflix Testing Standard-Definition Streaming on Wii
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72425
Netflix on Thursday announced yet another partnership with the video-game industry as it began shipping out streaming discs for the Nintendo Wii to some of its members. The Netflix-Wii tie-up means Netflix customers who subscribe to the unlimited $8.99 a month plan and who own a Wii can watch movies through the device at no additional cost. Netflix is looking for feedback from its initial customers before rolling out the service more broadly to its subscriber base.
"We are in the final phase of getting ready for the launch of streaming to Wii," said Jessie Becker, vice president of marketing for Netflix. "Today we shipped out instant streaming discs for the Wii to some of our Netflix members. Their feedback will ensure that we deliver a great experience to everyone when we launch."
Netflix customers who own a Wii can reserve a disc online. The free disc looks and works the same as a disc-based game for the Wii. In addition to the disc, consumers also need a broadband Internet connection to stream movies and television shows from the Netflix library.
"This isn't the most elegant solution. If you have the Wii and you have Netflix, you may as well get this value prop. But the effort definitely pales in comparison to Microsoft's implementation," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "On the Xbox I can actually search for content. On the Wii I have to use the computer to add new content to my instant queue. So it's not nearly the same degree of seamless experience."
Nintendo is coming late to the Netflix game. Netflix previously inked deals with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3. Both the Wii and the PlayStation 3 require a special disc that makes it possible to stream content. Xbox 360 users...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Microsoft Failed To Grab the Long Tail, Exec Concedes
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72411
When Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired, first penned an article in 2004 called The Long Tail, he was thinking about e-commerce. The article -- and later a book by the same name -- showed that web-based sellers like Amazon and Netflix had much larger sales potential than mass-market vendors like Barnes & Noble and Blockbuster.
"People are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles ... And the more they find, the more they like," Anderson wrote about the trend in book, video and music sales. The Long Tail, he discovered, was roughly 90 percent of the content out there; the "hits" account for just 10 percent. For example, Amazon stocks some 2.3 million books while Barnes & Noble has 130,000. (Those are 2004 figures, of course.)
He wasn't necessarily thinking about search engines, but of course the web, like Amazon, is filled with a long, long list of content. Applying Anderson's model, Google is the Amazon of web search, spidering the whole web and making the "whole catalog" available. Microsoft and Yahoo, meanwhile, focused on the most popular topics and did a poor job at delivering the rest of the web.
At least that is the insight of Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the online audience group for Microsoft Bing. Microsoft now realizes, Mehdi said in a speech at the Search Engine Strategies show in New York, that search is about the long tail -- something that Google got many years ago.
"Think about the explosion in the long tail. You have to crawl, index and make sense of that," Mehdi said. "On any given month, one-third of queries that show up on Bing -- it's the first time we've ever seen that query. A huge chunk of those, we'll...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Refined Bing Features Will Change User Interface
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72410
Less than a year after launching its decision engine, Microsoft plans to revamp Bing. The company is testing some new Bing features on its way to the next iteration that will debut later this spring and summer.
The underlying premise of Bing won't change. Microsoft's search engine will still work to help people make decisions. But the user experience will see some changes.
"Bing is rolling out a range of new features in areas where they think they have strength and are differentiating versus Google," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "These include query refinements -- which they say get at user intent -- more real-time or dynamic content in search and enhanced information in selected verticals like local and autos. The overall user interface is also a feature that differentiates what Microsoft is doing from Google."
Todd Schwartz from the Bing team said Microsoft wants to do more to help users with the tasks that search resolves. Microsoft's research found that 42 percent of search sessions require refinements, searching sessions are getting longer, and many of those refinements happen while searchers are trying to complete common tasks.
An original Bing feature called QuickTabs aimed to help searchers refine their queries, but Microsoft wants to make the tool even more intelligent. Schwartz said over the next few months Bing will test some new design concepts moving Quick Tabs functionality to the top of the page for one-click access to Bing's most visual and organized pages. Microsoft is betting this approach is a better way for Bing to anticipate user intent and adapt both the page and the results to help users make faster decisions.
Schwartz also pointed to efforts to help searchers keep up with everyday activities like news and information. Bing partnered with Twitter last October to...
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Internet Agency To Allow Domains in Native Scripts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72400
Four countries and two territories have won preliminary approval to have Internet addresses written entirely in their native scripts as early as this summer.
However, proposals for Internet addresses that would say "China" and "Taiwan" in Chinese will require a few more months of technical review. The delay is not over political disputes, but rather because the Chinese language can be written in two ways -- using simplified and traditional scripts. Rules are being developed to make sure that addresses in either script go to the same Web sites.
Since their creation in the 1980s, Internet domain names such as those that end in ".com" have been limited to 37 characters: the 10 numerals, the hyphen and the 26 letters in the Latin alphabet used in English. Technical tricks have been used to allow portions of the Internet address to use other scripts, but until now, the suffix had to use those 37 characters.
With the addition of non-Latin suffixes, Internet users with little or no knowledge of English would no longer have to type Latin characters to access Web pages targeting Chinese, Arabic and other speakers.
In January, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, paved the way for an entire domain name to appear in Cyrillic for Russia and Arabic for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Added to the list this week are suffixes in Chinese for Hong Kong; Sinhalese and Tamil for Sri Lanka; Thai for Thailand and Arabic for Qatar, Tunisia and the Palestinian territories.
Hong Kong, a territory of China, didn't have to go through a further review as China and Taiwan did because "Hong Kong" appears the same in both simplified and traditional Chinese.
Sat, 27 Mar 10
No Bars at Home? AT&T Says Femtocells Can Help
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72398
AT&T Inc. wireless subscribers who have poor reception at home will soon be able to fix that, for $150.
The carrier said Wednesday that it is rolling out "femtocells," little boxes that work much like Wi-Fi routers, except that they send out cellular signals. When connected to the home's broadband modem, they pick up signals from the cell phones in the home and relay them through the Internet connection. In essence, they're small cell towers for the home.
Dallas-based AT&T is introducing the 3G MicroCell in mid-April in some markets, as yet unnamed. The rest of the country will follow over the next several months.
Sprint Nextel Corp. started selling femtocells for calls in 2008, and Verizon Wireless followed in early 2009. AT&T's femtocell, developed with Cisco Systems Inc., is more advanced than those, because it relays both calls and broadband data.
However, many of AT&T's most popular phones, such as the iPhone, don't need a femtocell for data access in the home, because they can use Wi-Fi.
While femtocells can help consumers, they also benefit carriers by offloading traffic from local cell towers. AT&T is adding $2 billion to its capital budget this year to address problems with congestion on its network, apparently caused by heavy iPhone use.
AT&T is offering two ways of reducing the price of the 3G MicroCell. New subscribers to AT&T's home broadband service get a $50 mail-in rebate. Wireless subscribers who add a $20-per-month option to their calling plan that gives unlimited calls through a femtocell get a $100 rebate.
Sat, 27 Mar 10
Essential Add-Ons for Your Windows 7 PC
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72308
Microsoft focused on the right things with Windows 7. It addressed the annoyances in Vista that were the cause of myriad complaints, and it made the operating system more stable and easier to use in the process. But there are still plenty of areas in need of improvement, including desktop organization, disk management, file recovery, and file copying. The good news is that there are some very capable -- and free -- utilities that you can use to fill the void.
One thing Windows 7 hasn't improved upon is the clutter that invariably overtakes Windows desktops. Sooner or later, you'll probably find dozens of icons scattered on your screen, and locating the one you want ends up becoming a time-sapping chore.
Enter Stardock Fences. Free for personal use, this tool makes it easy to group your desktop icons into readily identifiable categories -- or "fenced in areas," to follow Stardock's fences metaphor. Create a category for graphics, one for office applications, and another for Internet. Create a separate fenced in area for document files.
Within minutes, you can use this tool to create blissful organization out of chaos. And you'll likely be impressed with how well Fences leverages Windows 7's transparency effects to make your fenced in areas fun to roll over with your mouse cursor. You can move groups of icons around with ease, as well.
Disk partitions still make a lot of sense. Savvy PC users put their operating system and installed applications on their main (C) drive and create another partition for documents and other files. That way, backing up data on a regular basis is quick and easy -- and the prospect of reinstalling an operating system isn't the harrowing experience it otherwise might be. You'll be certain that your vital document files won't get...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Outages Take YouTube, Wikipedia and Twitter Off-Line
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72407
Many years after the Y2K scare that left the world wondering if the Internet would crash as we entered the 21st century, two of the web's most popular sites have gone off-line this week alone. YouTube and Wikipedia both went dark on Thursday. Twitter went down last week.
YouTube is back up and running, but for more than an hour music fans, commercial lovers, content generators, and anyone else looking for videos on YouTube were rudely greeted with a "HTTP/1.1 Service Unavailable" error. Google told the Agence French Presse that YouTube was "temporarily unavailable" and "engineers are currently working to restore the site." But Google hasn't explained the outage.
"You get these waves on the web that you can't really plan for, and invariably they run into outages," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "This should remind us that Internet technology is still fairly young, and yet it's being asked to perform in line with our electrical grid and utilities. In most cases it actually does surprisingly well, but it does mean we are going to see outages."
This isn't the first time YouTube has experienced an outage. In fact, it's not the first time this month. Visitors to the popular video site saw the same message for a short time on March 2. Noteworthy, videos that are embedded continued to play during the downtime, according to reports via Twitter.
On the other hand, Wikipedia's outage is clearly understood. Wikipedia faced a severe outage Wednesday that took the site down for about two hours. The outage was blamed on overheating at the site's European data center.
"Due to an overheating problem in our European data center, many of our servers turned off to protect themselves. As this impacted all Wikipedia and other projects access from European users, we were...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Obama's Alleged Twitter Hacker Guessed Passwords
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72406
On Thursday, French police arrested a man who allegedly hacked into celebrity Twitter accounts in the United States. Among his victims was President Barack Obama.
French authorities described the hacker as a 24-year-old Frenchman. Rather than revealing his true identity, police are publicly calling him "Hacker Croll," a pseudonym the hacker used during his criminal activities. However, the Associated Press has identified him as Francois Cousteix.
"He was a young man spending time on the Internet," French prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat told London's Telegraph newspaper. "He acted as a result of a bet, out of the arrogance of the hacker. He is the type who likes to claim responsibility for what he has done."
Cousteix allegedly accessed Obama's Twitter page, as well as the Twitter pages of famous people like Britney Spears and Lily Allen, by guessing passwords, according to French police.
Whether Cousteix obtained any sensitive information from the president's micro-blog was not disclosed. However, news reports put Cousteix on the scene of the crime of dozens of Facebook and Twitter account hacks. Cousteix could spend up to two years in prison on each count of hacking if convicted.
"For a long time, when people got caught for doing this stuff, they got some kind of lucrative security job," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "Nowadays companies realize that providing incentives to people who are hacking this stuff wasn't a wise thing to do."
Although French authorities took the lead on the investigation, they reportedly relied on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to monitor Cousteix's online activities. The FBI also reportedly took part in the arrest of the hacker.
Cousteix has admitted to hacking. "I'm a nice hacker ... It's a message I wanted to get out to Internet users, to show them that no system is...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Lawmakers Debate the FCC's Broadband Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72405
U.S. legislators examined key aspects of the FCC's national broadband plan Thursday during testimony given by all five commissioners before the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. The urgency to move forward was emphasized the previous day by a wireless industry executive, who warned that continued investment and innovation in broadband will depend on the adoption of a clearer regulatory system.
"In my view, the current statute is badly out of date" and "now is the time to focus on updating the law affecting the Internet," said Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke. "To fulfill broadband's potential, it's time for Congress to take a fresh look at our nation's communications policy framework."
Rep. Rick Boucher, chairman of the subcommittee, said he believes that the House of Representatives will soon pass a bipartisan bill that will direct the FCC and the NTIA "to conduct a comprehensive spectrum inventory" as the next logical step. During Thursday's hearing, Boucher also said he was "pleased" with their recommendation to transition the commission's Universal Service Fund (USF) from supporting basic voice telephone service exclusively to supporting broadband deployments.
Boucher expects that the pending bipartisan bill would require carriers receiving USF dollars to provide broadband throughout their service territories within five years of the bill becoming law. "The carriers could no longer receive USF monies if they fail to meet this broadband build-out mandate," he noted.
What's more, the Virginia congressman expressed a favorable view of the FCC's goal of working with the nation's television broadcasters on a voluntary basis to identify spectrum broadcasters now hold that could be repurposed for commercial wireless use. "Broadcasters who surrender spectrum would receive compensation in exchange for a voluntary spectrum transfer," Boucher said. "That is the right approach."
However, Rep. John Dingell, a democrat from Michigan, expressed concern...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Google Adds Bank-Style IP Security To Gmail Accounts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72404
You get an e-mail from your friend's e-mail address asking for money. In reality, it's spam sent by a hacker who has taken control of your friend's account. The hacker e-mailed the friend's contact list, and used the friend's e-mail address to get you to open the email. On Wednesday, Google announced a way to help you detect if this kind of suspicious activity is happening to your Gmail account.
An automated system uses the Internet Protocol address to make a broad guess about the geographical location of the account user, and, if it's far away from your regular location, notifies the user.
"While we don't have the capability to determine the specific location from which an account is accessed," Google Engineering Director Pavni Diwanji said in a posting on the Official Gmail Blog, "a log-in appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a log-in from another country may trigger an alert."
The warning, at the bottom of the Gmail inbox, will say something like "Warning: We believe your account was recently accessed from Poland." Next to the warning is a link to "show details and preferences," which, when clicked, brings up a log of account activity, the most recent access points, and the times.
If a user thinks his or her account was compromised, the password can be changed in the same window. But if the user was traveling and accessed the account from the other geographical location, a link to dismiss the alert is available.
The warning system builds on the remote sign-out and security information Google started making available in Gmail in 2008. The information shows, for instance, whether the e-mail account is still open in another location, such as when a user might check into Gmail from a second location after neglecting...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Android, 4G, and Large Screens Headline the CTIA Show
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72402
Android, 4G and large screens were among the highlights of the International Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) Wireless 2010 trade show in Las Vegas. All three were featured in two of the most-discussed new products at the show, the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S.
Sprint has announced that it will begin selling the EVO, the "world's first 3G/4G" handset, in June. The device, running Google's open-source Android platform, is being showcased by the carrier as the kind of mobile device one can expect with the next generation of wireless networking.
Michael Gartenberg, a partner at the Altimeter Group, is attending CTIA and said the big news at CTIA was "Android, Android, Android."
He pointed out that the Android visibility is important to handset makers, the media, and some tech-savvy buyers, but "most consumers don't make purchasing decisions based on operating systems." Instead, he said, they often base their decisions on functionality. By that standard, Gartenberg said HTC showed some "pretty impressive" functionality for the EVO, including using it to download and stream high-definition video through a Roku set-top box to a HDTV.
Samsung's Galaxy S also runs on Android, and features a Super AMOLED four-inch screen, which could increase brightness and battery life as much as 20 percent. It also has what Samsung called a Layar Reality Browser, which offers location-based search, and personalized preferences are used to gather information from online sources into a daily briefing.
Other new products grabbing some of the spotlight include the Windows Mobile 6.5-based HD2 from HTC, announced in the fall but only now available for sale. Its 4.3-inch 480x800 display is described by the maker as "the largest touchscreen on the market." Also getting noticed is Dell's first phone in the U.S., the Android-based Aero, which will be available through...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Advertisers Snap Up iPad Spots in Popular Publications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72390
Publishers may once again be in the catbird seat with advertisers, thanks to Apple. The Wall Street Journal reports that national publishers are having no trouble signing top-tier advertisers for spots on the iPad versions of their magazines.
Time, for instance, has signed up Unilever, Toyota and Fidelity -- and three other major advertisers -- for spots on the iPad version of the magazine. The price: $200,000 for a single spot in the first eight issues.
The Journal -- which will charge $17.95 a month for its iPad version -- has inked deals with Coke, FedEx and four other major advertisers in a four-month, $400,000 ad deal.
What's the big appeal? "Mind-blowing" games, video and interactivity within the ad, Steve Pacheco, FedEx's director of advertising, told the Journal. "You are taking something that used to be flat on a page and making it interactive and have it jump off the page."
Advertisers who want all the bells and whistles in the context of a popular periodical will pay for the privilege. And publishers are using interest in the iPad version to beef up page buys in the paper version.
Conde Nast's Wired is offering advertisers who buy eight pages in a single issue of the paper magazine the opportunity to run video and interactive features through the iPad version, the Journal said. Esquire, on the other hand, is holding off on advertising, planning to offer an ad-free, $2.99 version of the magazine that features music videos from five singer-songwriters hired to create original songs, each containing the phrase "somewhere in Mississippi."
Advertisers want consumers to interact with their messages. That's been a problem on the web, where most ads are viewed as annoying distractions from reading content. Advertising on the iPad has the potential to be more like television,...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Customer Reviews Leave Their Mark on Businesses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72374
Ashley Galliart wasn't planning on making so many cupcakes.
A year ago, she opened Luscious Layers Bakery in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood as a wedding cake specialist, with additional treats, including cupcakes, for sale in her shop's front case. Then the reviews started trickling in on Yelp, the Web site where users rate local businesses. Positive buzz drove customers to the store, many of them in search of cupcakes.
"Yelp views us very much as a cupcake bakery," Galliart said. "We've ended up tweaking what we have available on a daily basis to accommodate what people expect. Now we make more cupcakes."
There was a time when a business owner monitored satisfaction mainly by talking to customers. Online review communities started to change that dynamic between consumers and businesses. Now, a spate of lawsuits is putting the spotlight on the complicated relationship between businesses and the review sites.
Some business owners, like Galliart, have learned to adapt quickly and find success. Others chafe against what they see as unfair treatment by online review sites with outsized influence.
The leader in the space is San Francisco-based Yelp, which has drawn 30 million unique visitors in the last month and has more than 10 million reviews to date. In the past month, three class-action lawsuits have been filed alleging that Yelp representatives offered to remove or modify placement of negative reviews in exchange for advertising dollars.
This comes a year after dozens of businesses voiced similar allegations in articles published in several newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. Yelp denied all allegations and stepped up outreach efforts to business owners, holding Webinars and meetings to explain how the site works and how they can publicly respond to reviews.
The burden to find the middle ground in a morass of reviews and responses often falls on readers....
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Businesses Want Apple's iPad, Too
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72373
Jim Turner has bought 15 iPads that he'll get in April, when Apple starts shipping the tablet-style computer designed for book reading, game playing, and video viewing. Yet Turner won't be using the iPad for entertainment.
"It's for business," says Turner, who runs Hilltop Consultants, a provider of information technology services to law firms and other companies in the Washington [D.C.] area. Turner says he'll use the computer for checking e-mail on the go and taking notes while setting up client computer systems.
The iPad, billed by Apple executives as a digital book reader, video player, and gaming platform, isn't just for fun and games. Many companies and employees are buying the iPad to use it as a tool for business-related communications and keeping employees productive while they're on the go, says Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co. "Clearly, the iPad has a role to play in the business market," says Wolf, who has a buy rating on Apple stock. "The demand appears to be far more diverse than I originally expected."
More than half of mobile-phone users surveyed recently by Zogby International said they would use a tablet device such as the iPad for working outside the office, according to mobile software maker Sybase, which commissioned the survey of 2,443 adult cell-phone users.
Of respondents, 52.3 percent said they would most likely use a tablet for work, compared with 48.2 percent who said they'd use an iPad-like device for watching movies and TV, and 35.4 percent who said they'd play games on their tablet. The findings reflect "unexpected emphasis on the iPad's suitability for work-related activities, and the iPad's potential value to information workers," Dublin [Calif.]-based Sybase said in a Mar. 23 statement.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and other officials of the Cupertino [Calif.]-based company...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Heartland Hacker Faces 25 Years in Prison
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72371
A computer hacker who helped orchestrate one of the largest thefts of credit and debit card numbers in U.S. history faces sentencing this week for hacking into computer systems of major retailers, including TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club and Sports Authority.
Prosecutors plan to ask for a 25-year prison sentence for Albert Gonzalez, a former federal informant from Miami who pleaded guilty last year in three separate hacking cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
The sentence sought by prosecutors is the maximum under the terms of plea agreements in cases against Gonzalez brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. He will be sentenced in all three cases during hearings Thursday and Friday in U.S. District Court.
His lawyer will argue that Gonzalez should get no more than 15 years.
Prosecutors said Gonzalez victimized millions of people and cost companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million. They said just two of Gonzalez's computer servers contained more than 40 million distinct credit and debit card numbers.
"The sheer extent of the human victimization caused by Gonzalez and his organization is unparalleled," Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann said in a sentencing memorandum filed in court.
Gonzalez, 28, pleaded guilty in September to hacking into the computers of TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, BostonMarket, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and the Dave & Busters restaurant chain.
In December, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computer servers at the Maine-based supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers; the convenience store chain 7-Eleven Inc.; and Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a New Jersey-based processor of credit and debit cards.
Gonzalez's Boston attorney, Martin Weinberg, did not immediately return calls seeking comment on his sentencing recommendation of 15 years.
Weinberg said during an earlier court hearing that he would ask for a lesser sentence based in part on a defense psychiatrist's...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
China's 'Great Firewall' Thwarts Google's Detour
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72368
Google's attempted detour around China's Internet censorship rules was met with countermeasures Tuesday by the communist government, which blocked people on the mainland from seeing search results dealing with such forbidden topics as the pro-democracy movement.
China's maneuver, as well as its public rebuke of Google's decision to stop censoring searches for the government, rattled some of the company's investors, advertisers and users.
The chief concern is whether Google poisoned its business in one of the world's most promising Internet markets. One analyst critical of Google's move predicted the maneuver will cause the company's stock to fall by as much as $50 -- or about 10 percent -- in the coming weeks.
The stock fell $8.50, or 1.5 percent, to $549 Tuesday.
Last month, Google said it no longer felt comfortable complying with the country's demands that it censor Web content deemed objectionable by the communist rulers. On Monday, Google began sending Web searchers in mainland China from the China-based Google.cn to Google.com.hk, based in Hong Kong. The former British colony has an open Internet, and Google is not legally required to censor results there.
But that end-run doesn't prevent China's government from using its Internet filters -- known as the Great Firewall -- to block some search results and Web sites from being seen in the mainland.
On Tuesday, a search request from within mainland China about the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests returned a notice that the "page cannot be displayed." It also caused the Web browser to disconnect for several seconds. Under the old google.cn, a similar query usually returned a list of sanitized sites about Tiananmen Square.
If the Chinese leaders really want to foil Google, they could block all mainland access to the Hong Kong service. Or they could exert their control of Chinese telecommunications companies to slow the speed of queries and...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Adobe Posts Lower Profit, But Still Exceeds Expectations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72367
Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday that fiscal first-quarter earnings declined on higher expenses, but sales climbed as demand for its design and publishing software improved with the stabilizing economy.
The results surpassed Wall Street's expectations, and Adobe also gave a strong forecast for the current quarter, thanks to the better economy and a key product upgrade that Adobe said Tuesday it would launch by early June. Its shares rose in after-hours trading.
Adobe earned $127.2 million, or 24 cents per share, in the three months that ended March 5. That is down 19 percent from a year earlier.
Excluding items such as stock compensation costs, Adobe earned 40 cents per share in the latest quarter, above the 37 cents that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting.
Revenue rose 9 percent to $858.7 million, also surpassing analysts' expectations. Operating costs increased 18 percent to $592.5 million as research, development, marketing and other expenses grew.
The bulk of Adobe's revenue comes from Creative Suite, its flagship software package targeting professional designers and Web developers. The company launched the most recent version, Creative Suite 4, in the fall of 2008, just as the financial crisis hit.
This squeezed sales of the product, but analysts widely expect the next version to do better, boosted by pent-up demand from businesses that may not have upgraded to CS4.
Shantanu Narayen, Adobe's president and CEO, announced during a conference call with analysts that Adobe will hold a launch event for CS5 on April 12. He said the product is "on track" to ship in major languages late in the second quarter, which ends June 4. Traditionally, these languages have been English, French, German and Japanese.
In a statement earlier, Narayen said its first-quarter results were driven by stability in its creative business and strength in its Acrobat document-creation products and Omniture, a Web analytics...
Fri, 26 Mar 10
Google Cleared in AdWords Trademark Suit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72339
Luxury goods manufacturers said a ruling Tuesday from the European Union's highest court will stop Google Inc. selling their brand names as advertising keywords to unauthorized sellers or counterfeiters in Europe.
French companies, led by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, want to limit the sale of their trademarks on Google's automated Adwords system which links search results to ads. They fear that counterfeiters could buy a keyword such as "Louis Vuitton" and use it to sell fake bags.
The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that Google, the world's most used search engine, does not violate trademark law if counterfeiters buy brand names as ad keywords.
But it set a new test for Google's liability in such cases, saying national courts would have to decide whether the company knowingly accepts these ads.
Google would be in the clear if it can show that it moves swiftly to remove an ad once it is told that it is misusing a trademark.
It would also be free from liability if its automatic ad system is judged to be "merely technical, automatic and passive" and that the company is not aware of and cannot fully control the words that advertisers add into its system.
Google says its policies forbid advertising of counterfeit goods, describing them as "a bad user experience," and that it works with brand owners to identify and deal with counterfeiters.
In all European countries except Britain and Ireland, the company says it takes down and blocks ads and keywords that misuse a trademark if the brand owner complains. It does not block keywords in Britain and Ireland because it believes the law does not demand it.
Pierre Gode, LVMH's vice president, says the ruling could help stamp out the online sale of counterfeit branded goods. He wants Google to filter the sale of advertising keywords and prevent...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Nintendo and Sony Moving To 3-D To Preserve Markets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72386
It's not just TV makers who are looking to 3-D for a shot of adrenaline. Video-game console makers are also hurriedly going dimensional to boost or maintain market shares for their systems.
But Nintendo raised some eyebrows Tuesday with an announcement of a 3-D version of the top-selling DS, the handheld game player that evolved from the company's market-building Game Boy. Tentatively labeled the 3-DS, the device would not require 3-D glasses.
The company released few details about the new product but said it would be available by the end of its fiscal year, with previews at the gaming industry's E3 Expo June 15-17 in Los Angeles.
"We wanted to give the gaming industry a heads-up about what to expect from Nintendo at E3," said Ken Toyoda, chief spokesperson for Nintendo. "We'll invite people to play with the new device then."
The Kyoto, Japan-based company recently released figures that show a 9.4 percent drop in revenue in its third quarter ending in December, compared to a year ago. While its Wii video-game console is still the top-selling platform, the company lowered the price.
With global sales of the DS slowing, having the first 3-D portable could provide an important boost, and Nintendo has a proven record of innovation.
"I haven't seen Nintendo's solution yet, but the latest glasses-free 3-D TV sets I saw at CES were underwhelming," said consumer-devices analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "However, Nintendo does have a history in this space, and I would never underestimate them when it comes to adding gaming features. They proved skeptics dead wrong with the Wii's motion controllers."
Nintendo's announcement earned a predictably skeptical response from archrival Sony. In an interview with the gaming blog IGN, the company's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, said his team is focused on a 3-D PlayStation console rather...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
LG Pumps Out Seven New Smartphones at CTIA
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72382
LG Electronics rolled out a number of smartphones at the CTIA Wireless 2010 show this week. The new models feature some advances in mobile-phone technology.
The LG Arena offers a 3-D user interface that lets users watch mobile TV. An HD display offers a full-color television experience with Dolby Mobile sound, and a touchscreen lets users e-mail, text and instant message. The device also has a 5.0-megapixel camera with a built-in flash.
"LG is offering some impressive devices. The question is how these devices are going to ultimately stand out in what is becoming a very crowded market," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "It seems the shelf life of mobile devices is getting much shorter."
The LG Cosmos also comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and social-networking tools that give users access to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social sites. The Cosmos has a 1.3-megapixel camera that takes pictures in three different resolutions.
Then there's the LG Accolade, a small flip phone that fits in a pocket. The twist on this device is speaker-independent voice commands. It also holds a 1.3-megapixel camera, offers text messaging, web-based e-mail, and picture-messaging capabilities.
Meanwhile, the LG Lotus Elite differentiates itself with a square shape and tattoo pattern. This one also has a full QWERTY flip and an internal touchscreen that lets users interact with the device with finger strokes, as well as a 2.0-megapixel camera and camcorder.
The LG Rumor Touch offers a three-inch touchscreen, a five-line QWERTY keyboard, and 3G capabilities. It offers quick access to threaded text...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Verizon Will Encourage Skype Use on Its Data Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72381
Beginning Thursday, Verizon Wireless will provide its customers with free downloads of Skype mobile for selected 3G smartphones running the Android and BlackBerry operating systems. Data-plan subscribers will be able to place an unlimited amount of free calls to other Skype users worldwide and dial overseas numbers at Skype's low international rates.
The Skype download is aimed at the BlackBerry Curve, Storm, Storm2 and Tour, as well as Android-based smartphones such as the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris. Verizon also said the VoIP app will be coming soon to the Motorola Devour.
Skype is expected to change the way mobile consumers in the United States make and receive calls, noted Verizon Senior Vice President John Harrobin. "With an 'always on' capability, Skype mobile on your 3G smartphone means you never have to miss a call or make an appointment to connect with Skype users around the world," Harrobin said. "With Skype mobile, we're untethering Skype users from their PCs and enabling them to stay connected."
Among other things, Verizon's data-plan subscribers will be able to use Skype mobile to initiate or receive unlimited free voice calls with any Skype contact around the globe, as well as send and receive unlimited instant messages with other Skype users. These Skype-to-Skype interactions will not be charged against subscribers' monthly minute voice allowances or data plans, the company said.
The potential in-house savings for enterprises with large numbers of mobile workers who need to stay in constant communication should be more than enough to encourage many businesses to adopt free Skype numbers for their personnel. Skype mobile users also will gain the ability to sense the presence of fellow workers as well as engage in instant-messaging sessions and even group conference calls.
The free download will also let consumers and businesses save money by placing...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Yahoo Launches Two Mobile Search Applications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72378
Mobile applications are getting attention from the thousands of attendees at the CTIA Wireless 2010 show. Yahoo garnered some of that attention late Tuesday with two new mobile applications, Yahoo Sketch a Search and Yahoo Search.
"The Yahoo applications are very impressive," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, from the CTIA show in Las Vegas. "They are doing a tremendous amount now with location-based services, but the question is, can they stand out in what increasingly has become a crowded market?"
Yahoo Search was created to give users fast and relevant results in searches, according to Yahoo. The free application has a slew of features, including localized queries that pop up as the user types, embedded maps, voice search, and content information from Yahoo and other providers.
Apple iPhone users in 22 markets in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia can already tap into Yahoo Search. The company plans to roll out the application to additional markets.
Convenience features include integrated voice search, which enables the user to speak a search query, and a memory that provides fast access to recent searches. Mobile-phone users in the U.S. can also use Yahoo's location feature, which gives results based on location. For example, a user can tap into the application's embedded maps and location technology to get directions to a business.
Additional features include viewing photos and data from Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. Users will also get search results with specific information from providers such as Yahoo Sports, News, Finance and Movies.
Sketch a Search lets mobile-phone users to use Yahoo maps to find information about a particular area by finger-drawing any shape around a particular area. Once users draw a sketch, Yahoo provides local business information within the area. Users will get a bird's-eye view...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Samsung Offers Convenience with Galaxy S Smartphone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72377
Samsung is vying for attention at the CTIA Wireless 2010 show in Vegas this week with the unveiling of the Galaxy S smartphone. Samsung is positioning its latest mobile device as making consumers' lives more convenient.
JK Shin, president of Samsung Electronics' Mobile Communications Business, announced the global launch of the Android-powered Galaxy S during his keynote speech at CTIA on Tuesday. Shin also outlined the company's vision for the democratization of the smartphone: To make smartphones available to everyone regardless of cost, need, lifestyle or geographic location.
"The Galaxy S is a very ambitious device. Clearly the news out of CTIA yesterday was Android wars. You have the Galaxy S and then about an hour later you had HTC delivering the EVO 4G," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "The excitement around the Galaxy S was somewhat diminished by the HTC announcement, as to which company had the title of best Android phone, at least for this 15 minutes in time."
The Galaxy S four-inch display promises less reflection and more viewing options with fast touch response. A technology called mDNIe, or mobile Digital Natural Image engine, is incorporated into the phone. This is the same technology used in Samsung's LCD and LED TVs and offers sharp viewing of photos, videos and e-books.
Samsung designed the Galaxy S with an immersive, integrated consumer experience in mind by offering access to popular services and technologies. The Galaxy S offers wireless integration with other devices, such as notebooks, TVs and cameras, and lets users tap into social-networking sites quickly through a social hub.
Of course, since the phone is Android-based, consumers can also tap into the Android Market, as well as use Google mobile services like Google Search, Gmail and Google Maps.
Other key features of Samsung's...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Sprint Will Offer 4G Phone with Two Cameras This Summer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72361
If you're just settling into the idea of 3G speeds on your mobile device, don't get too comfy. Sprint Nextel hopes to bolster its market position with the release this summer of "the world's first 3G/4G" handset, the HTC EVO 4G.
The carrier is emphasizing the value of 4G speed, 10 times that of 3G. It said the EVO, using Google's open-source Android platform, will "download music, pictures, files or videos in seconds -- not minutes."
Although other carriers are gearing up for the next generation of wireless speeds, Sprint said it is "the only national carrier offering wireless 4G service today in 27 markets." The 4G connection can also be shared through the EVO, which has mobile hot-spot functionality. Up to eight Wi-Fi devices, such as a laptop or music player, can use the connection.
The HTC EVO is built around the Qualcomm one-gigahertz Snapdragon processor and has two cameras -- an eight-megapixel one on the back with a HD-capable video camcorder, and a 1.3-megapixel on the front. There is also HDMI-out for displaying HD video.
Using the new HTC Sense user interface, the EVO adds a few new angles. There's Friend Stream, which combines multiple social communication threads into one update flow, a thumbnail view to switch between home-screen panels, and a "polite" ringer, which stops ringing once the phone is picked up.
Sprint also announced Tuesday its updated plans for providing 4G coverage. The company said it is "on a path" to cover 120 million Americans by year's end, and it is adding Los Angeles and Miami to the 27 markets equipped with 4G.
Ken Dulaney, vice president for mobile computing at Gartner, described the EVO as a "great phone" and said he likes Android "a lot." But, he added, a key question is whether...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Developers Ready for 'Land Grab' on Apple's iPad
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With Apple's iPad just a bit more than a week away, developers are getting excited about the possibilities of deploying their apps on a giant 9.7-inch version of the iPhone. "If there ever was a space to do some land-grabbing in, this is it," said Scott Lahman, CEO of Gogii, which publishes a popular app called TextPlus, which lets iPhone users text-message without paying AT&T for the privilege.
While it's not clear how a text-messaging app would benefit from a huge screen, it's clear to advertisers that the iPad could be, well, awesome.
"I'd rather be in early than sit back and wait and let my competitors get early traction," Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, a Seattle-based developer of ad-supported apps, told USA Today. "It's a larger device, so it's better for advertising."
Zumobi will have a new iPad app for Motor Trend magazine ready at launch.
While existing iPhone and iPad touch apps work will work on the iPad, developers will have to revamp them to take full advantage of all that real estate. The so-called iPhone on steroids has the potential to create a whole new category of device -- one focused even more than the iPhone on entertainment.
"The iPad isn't a phone," said Gene Munster, who follows Apple for Piper Jaffray. "It's a different animal." Munster predicts it will be a big animal, making up as much as 10 to 15 percent of Apple's revenue by 2012.
"This is the iPhone moving into the living room," Bart Decrem, CEO of Tapulous, the maker of the popular Tap Tap Revenge game, told USA Today. "In the short term, it's an extension of the iPhone. In the long term, it's a brand-new platform that will move eyeballs off gaming consoles and laptops."
The problem: How to...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Competition Lacking in National Broadband Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72344
The sweeping national broadband plan that federal regulators delivered to Congress last week doesn't go far enough to satisfy some experts who warn that the United States would still trail other industrialized nations in prices and speed.
Those experts insist that the FCC plan is not nearly ambitious enough to bring faster Internet connections at lower prices to more Americans. That's because the proposal fails to bring adequate competition, they say, to a duopoly broadband market now controlled by giant phone and cable TV companies.
According to the New America Foundation, a 100-megabit broadband connection costs as little $16 per month in Sweden and $24 per month in Korea, while service that is only half that fast costs $145 per month in the U.S.
"What I want is big bandwidth for cheap prices," said Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative. "But the plan punts on competition."
The national broadband plan, mandated by last year's stimulus bill, offers a roadmap for bringing affordable high-speed Internet access to Americans who currently don't have it and dramatically increasing speeds for those who do. With Congress holding two hearings on the plan this week, some interest groups are already voicing concern.
Although wireless companies are pleased with a recommendation to free up more airwaves for mobile broadband access, television broadcasters fear most of that spectrum would come from them -- whether they want to give it up or not.
Rural phone companies are concerned about proposals to overhaul two federal programs that are significant sources of revenue for them: the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service in poor and rural areas, and the intercarrier compensation system, which governs charges that telecom carriers pay to connect calls.
And public safety officials are upset that the plan does not include a proposal to give them exclusive access...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Internet Firm TOM Online Ends Google-China Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72340
An Internet company run by one of Asia's richest men said Tuesday it has ended its affiliation with Google Inc. as the American search giant stopped censoring the Internet in violation of Chinese regulations.
Making good on threats made more than two months ago, Google began shifting its Chinese-based search functions to Hong Kong, a Chinese territory where companies are not legally required to censor Internet search results.
TOM Online, a mainland Chinese Internet firm controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, said Tuesday it was stopping use of Google's search services after "the expiry of agreement."
"TOM reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China where we operate our businesses," the company's parent, Hong Kong-based TOM Group, said in a statement Tuesday.
TOM Online, which runs online and mobile Internet services in mainland China, did not say when it stopped using Google or provide any details of its agreement with the company.
TOM likely used Google's search box feature, allowing visitors to its Web site to search the Internet with the U.S. company's technology.
It's still unclear whether other Chinese companies that partner with Google will follow suit. Representatives for heavyweight Internet portal operator Sina Corp. did not answer calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Companies, however, are liable to think twice about maintaining a partnership with a company that has been condemned by Beijing for running afoul of its censorship rules. From a business perspective, there are also uncertainties and risks for mainland Internet users relying on a Hong Kong service that could end up blocked.
China Mobile, the world's largest phone company by subscribers, with more than 500 million accounts, could find its partnership with Google for mobile search services in danger, analysts at brokerage CLSA said in a recent report.
"Some of the Chinese companies may want to play it safe...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
Clearwire Announces Wireless Broadband Expansion
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72338
Clearwire Corp. said Tuesday that it will expand its wireless broadband network to cover Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City this year.
Clearwire had already said that it would expand to cover New York, Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis and San Francisco this year. Right now, Clearwire covers 27 cities with its service, which provides speeds close to DSL for about $30 per month.
The announcement doesn't represent an acceleration of the company's plan. Clearwire had previously said it plans to cover areas with 120 million people by the end of 2010, and it is sticking to that figure.
Clearwire is using WiMax technology. It's faster than cellular broadband offered by wireless carriers, but it doesn't yet work with cell phones. Clearwire sells WiMax modems for laptops, and some laptops now come with built-in modems. It had 688,000 subscribers at the end of last year.
Sprint Nextel Corp. owns a majority of the company and resells service under the Clear brand. Other investors include cable companies, which are looking to sell wireless service to compete with phone companies.
Clearwire's shares rose 9 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $7.87 in Tuesday morning trading.
Thu, 25 Mar 10
DEMO Startups Target Web TV, Virtual Meetings
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72335
Hillcrest Labs wants to make it easier for couch potatoes to surf the Internet on TV. So it came up with a Web browser called Kylo that can be used comfortably by a person sitting across the room.
Rockville (Md.)-based Hillcrest is among 63 startups unveiling their wares from Mar. 21-23 at DEMO Spring 2010 in Palm Desert, Calif. DEMO is a twice-a-year conference at which fledgling companies can build buzz and seek funding.
Hillcrest built Kylo to capitalize on growing demand for Internet services delivered via the TV. An estimated 10 million people watch Internet videos on such sites as Google's YouTube via computers connected to TVs, according to Forrester Research. Other research suggests that consumers are increasingly willing to ditch cable or satellite TV service altogether in favor of Internet options.
Also part of Hillcrest's lineup is a device called the Loop Pointer that sells for $99 and is designed to bridge the technological gap between remote controls that can't master a browser and keyboard-mouse setups that don't fit with a living room's decor or ethos. "People learn to point before they can talk," says Hillcrest Labs founder and CEO Dan Simpkins. "As people started using more on-demand video content from the Web on their TVs, we realized that the 50-button remote would not scale to the task." Companies including Logitech and remote control maker Universal Electronics are working on their own devices, using Hillcrest's technology, Simpkins says.
An additional company aiming to enshrine the Web in the living room is GlideTV, based in Pleasanton, Calif. GlideTV makes its own controller, a squarish device with upturned corners that houses a scrollpad similar to those found on notebook PCs. [See images.] The pad supports a "swipe" motion for flipping through content choices, similar to features found in Apple's...
Thu, 25 Mar 10
The Best and Worst Small Biz BlackBerry Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72334
I was at my daughter's swim team banquet the other night and my BlackBerry saved my life.
No, I didn't receive any important client e-mails or text messages. I wasn't working on a last-minute estimate for that client who wants us to upgrade their computer system next week. There were no emergency service calls.
I played BrickBreaker on my BlackBerry. For three solid hours. It got me through the coach's endless speeches, the multiple awards designed not to let anyone feel left out, and the excruciatingly unfunny "gag" gifts given by students to their teammates. I'll never have that Sunday night back. But I did make it to level 25 and a personal all-time-high points total. So the evening wasn't a total loss.
That night, BrickBreaker was my killer BlackBerry app. But most of the time I'm using my Research In Motion BlackBerry for work. It's been a pretty amazing tool that helps me run my small business. There are other great BlackBerry apps -- aside from BrickBreaker -- that I think most small business owners should be using. And like many of the meaningless awards given out at the banquet ("Best Attitude?" Really?), there are some useless apps for the BlackBerry that small business owners should, like a high school sports banquet, avoid if possible.
For example, I don't find minioffice apps such as the eOffice Mobile Suite or Documents To Go productive at all. It's not that they don't work as advertised. They do. But I've never been successful thumbing my way through a Word doc or Excel analysis on a two-inch screen. In fact, the editor for this column asked me if I know of anyone who actually uses and/or likes these applications. I can honestly say no. I've downloaded these programs and used them maybe once or twice...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
SanDisk Offers 32GB Card for Overflowing Phone Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72354
With smartphone applications soaring exponentially, the next generation of devices will need far more storage space to hold them all, as well as megabits of music, photos and other data. And memory chipmakers seem ready to meet that demand.
SanDisk this week released its biggest capacity storage card, the 32GB MicroSD, which contains a stack of eight 4GB chips. Only a millimeter thick, or 0.039th of an inch, and weighing 0.5 grams, or 0.176 of an ounce, it has enough memory for thousands of songs or 10 hours of video.
It's the highest-capacity removable memory card available for smartphones -- double the size of widely used 16GB cards -- and will be available to both consumers and manufacturers for $200, four times more than the 16GB cards and more expensive than some smartphones after rebates. Milpitas, Calif.-based SanDisk previously released a 32GB card for use in digital cameras.
The new card is based on a 32-nanometer process, which means memory cells are crammed into a space 32 billionths of a meter.
"With the large volume of photos, videos and music that consumers create and carry around, a high-capacity memory card is a must-have component of today's smartphone," SanDisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said. "This is the highest-capacity card of its type, and SanDisk is pleased to be the first to ship such an advanced product."
Last month, IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture of Intel and Micron, announced that it had created a 8GB flash memory card based on a 25-nanometer process and NAND technology. Samsung is also planning to announce a 32GB card this month.
"With all the new applications being offered, more space will be needed to download on the devices," said Kirk Parsons, a senior telecommunications analyst for J.D. Power and Associates. "Currently, there isn't enough default disk...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Opera Submits Browser for iPhone To Apple's App Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72353
Opera Software submitted a mobile web browser for the iPhone to Apple's App Store on Tuesday. Called Opera Mini for iPhone, the application was first demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona last month.
According to StatCounter, Opera Software commanded the mobile browser market with a 27.5 percent global share at the end of February. Given that Apple's own iPhone browser ranked second with a 20.8 percent share, the Opera Mini's availability on the iPhone could be a major coup.
Opera's iPhone offering promises to give mobile users a new way to browse on Apple's red-hot handsets, should the iPhone maker give it the green light. "Opera has put every effort into creating a customized, stylized, feature-rich and highly responsive browser that masterfully combines iPhone capabilities with Opera's renowned web experience," said Opera Software cofounder Jon von Tetzchner.
Opera Software has two different products for mobile phones called Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, noted Opera Communications Manager Falguni Bhuta. Opera Mobile is a full web browser that renders pages in full on mobile devices and is generally used on smartphones, she explained.
"As for Opera Mobile, it runs on more than 100 million phones worldwide, as it generally comes pre-installed either through operators or OEMs," Bhuta noted. "Opera Mobile is available for S60 and Windows Mobile platforms today."
Opera Mini, which is installed on more than 50 million mobile phones worldwide, is a lightweight client-server browser that compresses pages up to 90 percent before they load on mobile devices. "This browser is easy to download and can be used on feature phones as well as smartphones," Bhuta said, "including platforms like J2ME, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, and, hopefully soon, the iPhone."
Apple's decision could have a huge impact in the North American market, where Opera...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
iPhones May Be Sold Direct, But Still Locked To AT&T
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72352
You may have thought that Apple's iPhone goes with a long-term AT&T contract like peanut butter with jelly, but a new report indicates some things may be changing. Several Apple enthusiast sites Monday displayed an image of an internal company memo allowing U.S. customers to pay full price for an iPhone at an Apple Store without having to show an AT&T contract.
However, contrary to some earlier reports, there is no indication that the iPhone is unlocked, meaning the customer will still need to arrange some kind of AT&T service. Customers can buy service plans that don't obligate them for two years, as the regular AT&T/iPhone deal does.
Unlocking the iPhone isn't especially difficult, although Apple has said doing so violates the device's warranty.
The memo, addressed to "All Employees" at Apple, said customers can purchase an iPhone at a price not subsidized by AT&T and without proof of a contract. The prices are $499 for the 8GB iPhone 3G, $599 for the 16GB iPhone 3GS, and $699 for the 32GB iPhone 3GS.
With a two-year AT&T contract, including a data plan, the cost is $99 for the iPhone 3G, $199 for the 16GB iPhone 3GS, and $299 for the 32GB 3GS. Industry analysts have speculated that Apple would decrease iPhone prices in the not-too-distant future, which could ultimately lower the value of AT&T's exclusive iPhone deal.
There is a limit of one unsubsidized iPhone per customer per day, and 10 non-contracted iPhones per customer.
Since the unsubsidized phone is still locked to AT&T, the question becomes why would anyone want to pay a high price for an unsubsidized device and still be required to go with AT&T? One answer could be the advantage of getting a shorter-term AT&T contract, and going with another carrier later -- if and when Apple authorizes another...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Hey, Big Spender! Verizon Will Allow $25 in M-Commerce
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72348
In a move to build mobile commerce, Verizon Wireless on Monday announced a deal with Danal's BilltoMobile payment service. Beginning later this spring, Verizon customers can do more than shop on the mobile web -- they can make purchases.
The BilltoMobile service will let customers pay for digital goods downloaded and consumed on personal computers. Here's the catch: It only works with Danal's network of e-commerce merchants and there's a $25-a-month spending limit. Parents can set lower limits for kids.
"The fact that you can only buy from network sites is a bit of a gating factor, but that's sort of the point," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "The company wants to give the value-add to their network customers and a reason for them to be on the network."
Consumers with text-messaging phones can shop for Verizon-approved content at online stores, game sites, social networks, and virtual worlds. Consumers can also purchase subscriptions to popular online games.
Here's how it works: Consumers click on the BilltoMobile button during checkout and then input their mobile number and billing zip code for subscriber authentication. Consumers will then receive a text message with a one-time pass code. After consumers input this pass code into the online checkout window, the transaction is completed.
Although it may sound cumbersome, the companies insist the process only takes about 15 seconds, and no pre-registration or links to credit cards or bank accounts are required.
"This service is definitely on the cutting edge. What's important is that it underscores the fact that the phone has become a media consumption device," Gartenberg said. "The carriers are recognizing that and want a big part of that action."
Jim Greenwell, CEO of Danal, expects the deal to change the industry's approach to online mobile payments to something that...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Google Sidesteps Chinese Censorship with Redirect
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72347
Google on Monday put its China showdown to an abrupt end. Refusing to censor results on Google.cn, the Internet giant has started directing search traffic to Google.com.hk. Google is offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese via its Hong Kong servers.
The decision is driving speculation on many fronts even as human-rights groups applaud the move and the Chinese government has warned America not to make it a political issue.
"Some observers, competitors and shareholders think that Google is not being entirely rational by following through on its decision to pull out -- or partly pull out -- of the world's largest Internet and mobile markets," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "But once Google made the public statement that it would potentially withdraw if it couldn't operate uncensored in China and the Chinese gave no indication of backing down or accommodating Google's demands, it had to do something like this or leave entirely."
Google warned users that the increased load on its Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes could lead to some slowdown in service. Some products might be inaccessible while Google continues to transition everything to the new domain.
David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, admitted that figuring out how to make good on Google's promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. On one hand, he said, Google wants as many people in the world as possible to have access to Google services, including users in mainland China. On the other hand, he added, the Chinese government has been clear that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
"We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced -- it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Nintendo DS Player Will Have 3-D -- Without Glasses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72346
If you thought the upcoming 3-D revolution meant you had to sit in front of a TV with special glasses, Nintendo is hoping to change that perception. The game company has announced it will show a 3-D version of its popular DS handheld game console this summer -- with no glasses required.
The new model, currently called the 3-DS, is expected to be revealed at the big E3 show scheduled for Los Angeles in mid-June. Sales are expected to begin in Nintendo's next fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31.
Nintendo is not the only gaming company hoping to mine the new excitement about 3-D technology. Sony has said it will enable its PlayStation 3 to play 3-D games, with sales beginning about the time the 3-DS will be unveiled. However, the PS3 is not portable, and special glasses as well as a 3-D TV will be needed.
Nintendo hasn't revealed the technology behind 3-D without glasses. According to news reports, the 3-DS will have backward compatibility with games for the Nintendo DS and DSi. The company has sold more than 125 million DS units since its launch six years ago, making it the most popular handheld game device.
Gaming enthusiast sites are abuzz with possibilities, implications arising from Nintendo executives' statements, and rumors. There is speculation that the 3-DS will have two cameras, since it will support software for the two-camera DSi, and some Nintendo watchers suggest that the cameras will be used to track the movement of the user or the device.
The tracking speculation derives from an obscure DSi puzzle game, called 3D Hidden Picture, which uses the cameras to track the device's movement and adjust the image accordingly.
With Sony releasing a new motion controller for its game console and Microsoft about to...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Silicon Valley's Massive Brain Drain
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72315
Silicon Valley may be the cradle for tech start-ups, but some foreign-born executives, engineers and scientists are leaving because of better opportunities back home, strict immigration laws here and the dreary California economy with its high cost of living.
Software engineer Vinod Kumar is staying with EMC but moving to his homeland of India after a decade in the Valley. Eric Diep hasn't given up entirely on the Valley. But most employees at his social-gaming start-up, A Thinking Ape, are in another office in his native Canada.
The 2-year-old company is shifting people to Vancouver, where it says engineering talent is more affordable, the government is more supportive and work visas are less hassle.
The talent-exodus problems don't end there. Fewer foreign students are coming to the Valley to earn engineering and science degrees, according to the Silicon Valley Index, which takes the economic pulse of the Valley each year.
Foreign-born students earned 16.6% of the total degrees awarded in science and engineering programs from local colleges and universities in 2007, compared with 18.4% in 2003, the study says.
"We're in the midst of a massive brain drain," says Vivek Wadhwa, a senior research associate at Harvard Law School who has done extensive research on the topic. "For the first time, immigrants have better opportunities outside the U.S." Often, a lack of work visas blocks foreign talent from staying. Only 120,000 to 140,000 temporary work visas are available each year in the U.S.
Iranian S. Mohammad M. Ahmadabadi wanted to start his Web-to-print company, HotPrints, in Silicon Valley. He couldn't get a work visa, so instead set it up in England. He hopes to resolve the visa issue and set up an office in Silicon Valley.
"It makes no sense (that) we put up barriers to talented people," says Brad Feld, a tech venture capitalist and co-founder...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
What To Look for in a Solid-State Drive
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72311
You can buy a computer with the fastest processor, the most muscular graphics card, and the speediest RAM. But your computer's performance will still be throttled if you continue to use a conventional hard drive. That's why solid state disks (SSDs) are this year's most coveted upgrade. Venture into the world of SSDs, though, and you'll see a myriad of competitors -- and have a lot of questions. What should you look for in an SSD? Read on to find out.
Q: The rpm ratings of magnetic hard drives are what I use to determine how fast they are. If I buy an SSDs, what should I pay attention to when it comes to speed?
A: First of all, even the slowest of contemporary SSDs will typically read and write data faster than mainstream hard disks, which rely upon rapidly spinning platters with magnetic surfaces. As you probably know, the speed at which those platters spin determines, in large part, how quickly data can be read from them and written to them. That rating is expressed in revolutions per minute (rpm), and today desktop drives that spin at 5400 or 7200 rpm are the norm, with some 10,000 rpm drives preferred by power users.
SSDs are made up of memory chips. There's nothing that spins, so rpm ratings are history. Instead, as with conventional system memory, the rates at which data can be written to and read from an SSD's memory chips are expressed in megabytes per second, usually abbreviated as MB/s. Look at the fine print on an SSD's packaging or online, and you should see two MB/s ratings: one for reading data from the disk and one for writing data to the disk.
Ordinarily SSDs can read data from their internal flash memory faster than they can write data to it. Today,...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Digital Downloads Are the Future of Gaming
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72310
The DVD in your hard drive, the sleek packaging on the shelf, the poster included for your wall. These are the trappings of PC gaming's present. The future may look a bit different, though: surf to a gaming platform on the Internet, download your title, and commence playing.
There are already a number of providers of this type -- and unless the experts are woefully mistaken, at least some of them will break through. That will bring with it any number of benefits, but some questions as well.
The underlying principle is tremendously simple: the gamer sets up a user account, selects a title, goes to the virtual checkout and downloads the title to a hard drive. There's no lack of choices: "Some 90 to 95 percent of current titles are now on Internet platforms," says Christian Schmidt from Germany's GameStar magazine.
The world's most popular site of this type is Steam (http://store.steampowered.com), supported by game-maker Valve, of Half-Life fame. Nevertheless the platform also features titles from nearly all current publishers.
Other players on the market include Gametap (http://www.gametap.com), an American firm, and Gamers Gate (http://www.GamersGate.com), which is based in Sweden. Microsoft's Games for Windows Live also includes games for download from various publishers. "There are also special platforms like gog.com," Schmidt says. The "gog" stands for "Good old games," with the focus on classic titles.
Major manufacturers offer titles both on platforms like these and on their own portals. "Our top PC titles are also available as digital downloads," says Norman Habakuck from Ubisoft. "In the current version of the Ubi Shop, once you purchase a game, you then receive an email message with a download link and activation key," Habakuck says.
Electronic Arts (EA) also supports this distribution channel. Purchasers must first download the EA Download Manager. That software is then used to launch...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Are Laptops Becoming the New Stereos?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72309
Can your laptop replace your stereo equipment? As with so many other questions, the answer lies in the details.
According to Thomas Rau from German magazine PC Welt, 15 to 17 inch laptops with integrated speakers offer "decent sound" for your average user. "Integrated speakers aren't worth our time," says Peter Knaak from the German consumer testing organization Stiftung Warentest.
The quality of the sound ultimately depends on several factors. The first is how severely the music has been compressed. "If you listen to music in MP3 form, then you don't need a high-quality stereo set," Rau says.
Songs that have been compressed into compact digital files are not going to produce a rich sound no matter how they're played. Knaak sees this differently, though: music digitized into 192 kilobit per second (kbit/s) or 256 kbit/s format is "hardly distinguishable from CD quality" in terms of sound.
Bernhard Rietschel, hardware expert at Audio magazine, recommends clicking on the "lossless" option when ripping CDs. While recording in lossless format requires more storage space for each song, the advantage is that albums can be played back in full CD quality.
In the end, though, speakers are responsible for 90 percent of the sound. Amplifiers are also key components. If you don't have room for a separate amplification unit, then be sure to use active speakers with an integrated amplifier. Speaker size is determined by volume, frequency, and size of the space they need to fill with sound. A 20-square-meter room requires speakers at least 30 centimeters high, for example.
Opinions diverge when it comes to subwoofers as well. They are especially crucial for people who want their bass to rattle the windows. Knaak strongly recommends 2.1 systems with a subwoofer and two satellite speakers each equipped with a tweeter and woofer. The satellites should be at least as...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
Lawmakers Strike Limits on Texting and E-Mails
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72304
Open government in the heart of Silicon Valley is starting to mean turn off, tune out, power down.
When the San Jose City Council meets just miles from the Apple and Google campuses, its members shut down all portable electronic devices, as though they were in a theater. If they're on and they get a text or e-mail from a lobbyist or anyone discussing city business, they must say so right then and there.
Experts say San Jose's policy is a model for open government in the digital age. Other cities and state legislatures are adopting their own rules at a time when officials are increasingly fielding requests for lawmakers' cell phone records, e-mails and text messages.
"Essentially what we've said is a public record is a public record," San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said, "no matter where it exists."
More than half of the legislative chambers in the states restrict the use of electronic devices in some form, including dozens that prohibit the use of cell phones on the floor, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
In California, the new Assembly Speaker, John Perez, D-Los Angeles, is trying to impose a ban on texting from lobbyists to lawmakers on the floor or in committee. The state Senate already requests that its members not use personal cell phones and electronic devices during meetings.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says he is considering banning texting and e-mailing between lobbyists and lawmakers during City Hall meetings.
But advocates for open and accountable government say that banning texting or e-mailing during meetings leaves huge loopholes since lobbyists and lawmakers could text or e-mail each other just before or after a meeting.
The better policy, they say, is one like San Jose's, which requires officials to disclose all discussions of public business, including those conducted on personal cell phones or...
Wed, 24 Mar 10
The Web Fuels Trade of Threatened Species
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72303
The Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare species, fueling the illegal wildlife trade and making it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones, conservationists and law enforcement officers said Sunday.
The Web's impact was made clear at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. Delegates voted overwhelmingly Sunday to ban the trade of the Kaiser's spotted newt, which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the Internet trade.
A proposal from the United States and Sweden to regulate the trade in red and pink coral -- which is crafted into expensive jewelry and sold extensively on the Web -- was defeated. Delegates voted the idea down mostly over concerns the increased regulations might impact poor fishing communities.
Trade on the Web poses "one of the biggest challenges facing CITES," said Paul Todd, a campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"The Internet is becoming the dominant factor overall in the global trade in protected species," he said. "There will come a time when country to country trade of large shipments between big buyers and big sellers in different countries is a thing of the past."
The IFAW has done several surveys of illegal trade on the Web and a three-month survey in 2008 found more than 7,000 species worth $3.8 million sold on auction sites, classified ads and chat rooms, mostly in the United States but also Europe, China, Russia and Australia. Most of what is traded is illegal African ivory but the group has also found exotic birds along with rare products such as tiger-bone wine and pelts from protected species like polar bears and leopards.
A separate 2009 survey by the group Campaign Against the Cruelty to Animals targeted the Internet...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Google Tries a Web-Censorship Workaround
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72324
Google Inc. will shift its search engine for China off the mainland but won't shut it down altogether, and it will maintain other operations in the country. It's an attempt to balance its stance against censorship with its desire to profit from an explosively growing Internet market.
On Monday afternoon, visitors to Google.cn were being redirected to Google's Chinese-language service based in Hong Kong. The page said, according to a Google translation, "Welcome to Google Search in China's new home."
Google's compromise could resolve a 2 1/2-month impasse pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against the government of the world's most populous country.
Google plans to keep its engineering and sales offices in China so it can keep a technological toehold in the country and continue to sell ads for the Chinese-language version of its search engine in the U.S.
But Google is still taking a risk. The revolt against censorship threatens to crimp Google's growth, particularly if taking the stand prompts the Chinese government to retaliate by making it more difficult for the company to do business in the country. The ruling party, for instance, could use its filters to block people on China's mainland from connecting with Google's Hong Kong-based service.
On Jan. 12 the search company vowed to shake loose from government-imposed restraints on the Internet after determining that Google, along with more than 20 other U.S. companies, had been targeted in a wave of computer hacking attacks originating from China.
The attackers also tried to pry into the e-mail of human rights activists opposed to the ruling party's policies, according to Google. That raised the specter that the Chinese government or its agents played a role in the espionage, although Google never made a direct accusation.
Despite its outrage, Google had hoped to persuade the Chinese government to let it run a...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
CTIA Show Will Focus on 4G and Mobile Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72323
What happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas this week. CTIA -- The Wireless Association is kicking off its three-day International CTIA Wireless show where Sprint Nextel is slated to launch a new 4G phone and top brass from AT&T and Telefonica will deliver keynote addresses.
Now in its 25th year, the show will kick off Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where more than 1,000 wireless carriers, mobile web businesses, and players in the data industry will come together to discuss the wireless market and exhibit products and services. As of Monday, 40,000 attendees were expected, according to Liora Bram, a CTIA spokesperson.
Mobile applications for businesses and consumers will be the focus of this year's show. "We'll see innovative uses of wireless technology for business and personal life and a range of new devices," said Robert Mesirow, show director for CTIA.
"News of 4G rollouts are going to be important this week along with the fact that there's now an entire part of the show dedicated to mobile apps," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group.
Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless are expected to make big announcements. Sprint is expected to launch its new 4G HTC phone and Verizon is expected to tout its upcoming LTE network, which is slated to be deployed to 100 million people in 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year.
"It appears software will also play a big role this week in addition to devices and network," Gartenberg added.
Show planners have broken up the show floor into different zones. There will be an emerging-technology zone, which will focus on the future of mobility and cover various markets, including wireless health and pavilions on green technology.
CTIA has also created a zone dedicated to the 20 percent of its attendees who...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
AT&T Scores Palm and Dell Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72322
With the coming addition of Palm to its inventory, AT&T will soon be the only carrier that can boast of offering devices based on all five of the top smartphone operating systems: Apple's iPhone, Palm's webOS, Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS, Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Google's Android.
Two weeks ago, AT&T added its first Android-based phone, the Motorola Backflip, and it promises more on the way. The company is currently the exclusive carrier of the iPhone.
"Customers purchase based on either phone or carrier, so AT&T carrying all these platforms makes them attractive to consumers," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner in the Altimeter Group, a technology consulting firm.
But Palm's partnership with the nation's No. 2 wireless carrier, first announced in January at CES, could be crucially important to both companies as the manufacturer struggles for market share.
Last week Palm officials announced a bleak forecast for this quarter, with revenues projected at half of Wall Street estimated. Palm also revealed that more than half the 960,000 handsets shipped last quarter went unsold. (Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Geldblum reportedly estimates that the overall unsold Palm inventory may be as high as 1.15 million phones.)
The bad news sent Palm's shares tumbling to a one-year low. But the AT&T news gave the share price a slight boost in early trading Monday, up five percent to $4.21.
"With today's news of the AT&T deal, Palm is now on three of the major carriers in the U.S.," said Gartenberg. "Combined with some renewed marketing efforts, Palm has the ability to maintain position in the market." (The other two Palm smartphone carriers are Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless.)
AT&T has not announced a date for the premiere of the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus at its stores, but said they would sell for $149.99 and $49.99, respectively, with...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Internet Explorer Loses Share in European Markets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72320
Microsoft's delivery of a browser choice screen to European PC users this month is already beginning to have an effect on the software giant's market share within the European Union. For example, the latest statistics from StatCounter suggest that the new browser ballot is driving Internet Explorer share declines in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and elsewhere.
Mozilla's Firefox browser appears to be the major beneficiary of Microsoft's declines in France, where IE has lost 2.4 percentage points of market share since February 9. Firefox also has received small market-share bumps in Italy and the U.K.
"Early data suggests 50,000 to 100,000 new users chose Firefox as a direct result of seeing the ballot choice screen," said Mozilla spokesperson Erica Jostedt. "We expect these numbers will increase as the ballot choice rolls out in additional countries and will share updated metrics as they become available."
Opera Software said it has been experiencing a dramatic uptake on downloads of its new Opera 10.50 browser, with the increase more than doubling from normal download numbers. "The greatest gains are in countries like Poland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal," said Opera spokesperson Falguni Bhuta.
StatCounter's latest data also shows that browser users in France and Italy are beginning to turn to Chrome, Opera and Safari. For example, IE's market share in Italy slipped by 1.25 percentage points in the past month, even as Chrome's share rose 0.7 percent.
From a global perspective, however, the Dublin-based web-metrics firm reports that IE's market share has remained steady at about 54.5 percentage points over the past month. So Microsoft's browser losses in Europe are being offset by gains in other markets worldwide.
Microsoft previewed its forthcoming IE9 browser before MIX10 conference attendees in Las Vegas last week. The software giant clearly hopes that the release...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Microsoft Pushes Benefits of Desktop Virtualization
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72319
Microsoft is stepping up its commitment to desktop virtualization. Late last week, the software giant announced new virtualization technologies, a simplified licensing structure, and an expanded alliance with Citrix Systems.
Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Management and Services Division, said the company wants to provide a "balance" between IT departments looking to enforce security and device compliance, and employees who want options on where and how they work.
In a posting on the Windows Team Blog last week, Anderson said Microsoft's approach to virtualization "is different than others in the market." These differences, he said, include a "desktop to data-center approach," a belief in building a foundation of centralized and integrated management, and flexible technology.
To take a firmer position in this growing market, Microsoft is launching new promotions, features and licensing.
New promotions for the virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, include Rescue for VMware VDI, in which VMware View customers can trade in up to 500 licenses for the same number of Microsoft VDI Standard Suite subscriptions and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition annual licenses at no additional cost.
Beginning July 1, the company will no longer require that Windows Client Software Assurance customers buy a separate license to get access to Windows in a VDI environment, because virtual-desktop access rights will be a Software Assurance benefit.
And for midsize businesses wanting to move to Windows 7 Professional while still running XP-based applications in a virtual desktop environment, Windows XP Mode will no longer need hardware virtualization.
The new technology agreement with Citrix will enable that company's high-definition HDX technology in XenDesktop to integrate with Microsoft's RemoteFX platform. The HDX RichGraphics technology enhances the performance of 2-D and 3-D applications, leveraging both software- and hardware-based rendering. Microsoft's upcoming RemoteFX platform allows a rich-media user experience via a network...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
eBay and NRF Team To Combat Online Retail Crime
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72318
What do you get when you team the world's largest online marketplace with the world's largest retail trade association to take on organized retail crime? The hope is sweeping reform.
The National Retail Federation and eBay have formed a partnership against crime -- and they are getting support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other retailers, and new technology that identifies and attacks organized retail crime.
"NRF has done a great job of shining a spotlight on the issue of organized retail crime, but retailers cannot fight this problem alone," said Paul Jones, global director of asset protection for eBay. "Through this partnership, NRF and eBay are putting criminals on notice that they will no longer be able to steal from retailers and abuse the online marketplace for profit."
The NRF and eBay said their partnership will provide greater information sharing to target organized retail crime investigations and support the investigative efforts of federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies.
Taking a multitiered approach to organized crime, the participants will begin by bringing together a core group of NRF members and eBay representatives on a regular basis to discuss organized retail crime, brainstorm the best ways to prevent it, and take steps to eradicate the activity.
The participants will also work to identify ways to leverage new technology to help law enforcement identify and track organized retail crime rings. The NRF and eBay will collaborate with the FBI to identify crime rings that have been responsible for stealing merchandise in bulk and work on legislation to enhance federal law-enforcement resources to combat organized retail crime and punish major offenders.
"eBay has invested in a number of new resources and is making tremendous strides assisting retailers and law enforcement with tracking illegal behavior," said Joe LaRocca, a senior asset-protection adviser at NRF. "The partnership between...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Cybercrime Risk Is Highest in Seattle, Study Finds
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72317
Cybercrime. It's a threat that impacts 20 percent of online shoppers. It's an issue that cost Americans $560 million in 2009 in online fraud. And it's a topic that may hit closer to home than we realize, according to Symantec.
Symantec's Norton division partnered with independent research firm Sperling's BestPlaces to find and expose the cities most -- and least -- vulnerable to cybercrime. The top 10 vulnerable cities, by rank, are Seattle; Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Raleigh, N.C.; Atlanta; Minneapolis; Denver; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Ore.
"With more people than ever relying on the Internet to stay in touch, shop and pay their bills, feeling confident and secure in our information-driven world is vital," said Marian Merritt, a Norton Internet safety advocate. "This study highlights the cities most at risk of cybercrime and reminds individuals, families and businesses across the country of the hazards they face each time they go online."
Seattle rated as America's riskiest cybercrime city, placing near the top in categories like cyberattacks, potential infections, and online behavior that can expose people to cybercrime, such as online shopping and banking online, and wireless Internet access. Boston and Washington, D.C., ranked second and third. Both cities experience a very high level of cybercrime, Symantec said, perhaps due in part to their large number of Wi-Fi hot spots.
Meanwhile, high-tech hubs like San Francisco and Raleigh come in fourth and fifth. San Francisco tops the list for riskiest online behavior and highest number of Wi-Fi hot spots per capita. According to the Norton research, Atlanta residents experience the most cyberattacks and potential infections. Minneapolis and Portland are near the top for risky online behavior, while Denver and Austin score high across the board.
"The beauty for the bad guys with online crime is that there are no borders....
Tue, 23 Mar 10
New Sensor Could Upgrade Cameras in Mobile Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72316
A startup has announced a new kind of high-performance image sensor, which it says will revolutionize "the way light is captured." InVisage Technologies said its new technology, called QuantumFilm, is the "world's first commercial quantum dot-based image sensor," and added that it will replace conventional silicon-based sensors.
The Palm Desert, Calif.-based company said that QuantumFilm offers four times better performance and twice the dynamic range of existing sensors. It is expected to bring professional camera features to high-end mobile handsets and smartphones.
The technology was developed under the direction of InVisage Chief Technology Officer Ted Sargent, a professor at the University of Toronto and a leading researcher in nanotechnology. It's based on "quantum dots," nanocrystals made of a special kind of highly sensitive semiconductors that capture the light imprint of an image and send the digital signals to the custom silicon underneath.
The company said it spent three years engineering the image sensors so they can be created with standard CMOS manufacturing. That allows QuantumFilm sensors to have high pixel counts in tiny form factors.
During manufacturing, QuantumFilm material is deposited on top of a wafer, which means the cost can be kept low because the process is similar to coating a standard wafer with a layer of photoresist.
"Essentially," said InVisage President and CEO Jess Less, "silicon has hit a wall." He noted that silicon-based image sensors, which are used in all current digital cameras, whether professional, security or smartphones, can only capture about one-quarter of the light falling on a surface. By contrast, the company said, QuantumFilm can capture 90 to 95 percent.
In its announcement, InVisage quoted estimates that an average of $1 billion is spent for each new generation of conventional image sensors, which generally results in only a single-digit percent increase in image quality.
The company is targeting a...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Parents Oppose School Webcam Spying Lawsuit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72285
Some suburban Philadelphia parents are seeking to halt a potential class-action lawsuit accusing their school district of using cameras in school-issued laptops to spy on students at home.
Three sets of parents of students at Lower Merion and Harriton high schools filed documents in federal court Thursday asking for permission to intervene in the case.
The family of 15-year-old Harriton High School student Blake Robbins is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit accusing the Lower Merion School District of photographing him in his bedroom. The district has said it activated the cameras only to locate missing laptops.
Parents who object to the lawsuit say they are angry about the webcams but are concerned about the financial impact of a class-action settlement. Nearly 500 district parents have signed a petition opposing the class-action suit.
"We see no benefit to the school district or to the students if a large damage award is gained by the plaintiffs," said Larry Silver, one of several attorneys for the anti-lawsuit group. He also has a child in the wealthy school district on Philadelphia's Main Line.
"We want a positive resolution to this matter," he said. "We want them to get back to their educational mission."
In their complaint submitted in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, they requested hiring an independent public advocate, permanently banning laptop webcam use by the district and implementing new regulations on the proper use of technologies.
The district remotely activated 42 webcams over 14 months, successfully locating 18 missing computers. School officials have declined to describe the resulting photographs, and the district has halted the practice amid the lawsuit and resulting state and federal criminal probes.
In the civil suit filed in February, Robbins said a school official approached him and warned that, based on webcam photos, he was suspected of selling drugs. Robbins denies the allegation.
Mark Haltzmann, attorney...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Apple Board Member Jerome York Dies
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72283
Jerome York, an Apple Inc. board member and a financial wizard credited with turning around Chrysler and IBM, died Thursday of a brain aneurysm. He was 71.
He died at a Pontiac, Mich., hospital after being taken there on Tuesday night.
York, who led an investigation of Apple's stock option practices, was a pillar of financial and business expertise, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said. Jobs said York joined Apple's board in 1997 when most people doubted the company's future; since then, the company has launched such highly successful products as the iPhone and the iPod.
"It's been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I'm going to miss him a lot," Jobs said in a statement.
York worked for all three Detroit automakers starting in the 1960s. More recently, he advised investor Kirk Kerkorian in a failed takeover attempt of Chrysler and in efforts to reform General Motors Co. In 2006, three years before GM went into bankruptcy protection, York warned the company that its business model was seriously flawed.
As Chrysler's chief financial officer from 1990 to 1993, York helped restore the No. 3 automaker to profitability with cost cuts and asset sales and was considered a potential successor to then-chairman Lee Iacocca.
Despite the cuts, York kept investing in new vehicle development, said Bud Liebler, vice president of marketing and public relations at Chrysler from 1980 to 2001. At one point, York ran the Dodge brand, where he upgraded the engine of the Ram truck to make it more powerful and gave the truck more aggressive looks, a wildly popular move.
"He wouldn't cut costs that were going to help you build your business. He would cut superfluous costs," Liebler said.
York thrived on stressful situations, Liebler said.
"He attacked them all with the same relish and vigor. It was about controlling the costs,"...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
Samsung Seeks Double-Digit Sales Growth
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72281
Samsung Electronics predicted a strong 2010 as economic expansion in advanced and large developing economies gains speed and said it is aiming for double-digit sales growth from last year's record high.
The world's largest manufacturer of flat screen televisions and second-biggest seller of mobile phones held its annual shareholders meeting Friday, where it also reveled in its status as a force in world business.
"Our financial standing is on a global level," Samsung President and CEO Choi Gee-sung told shareholders. "We have become a world class company."
Over the past decade Samsung has become one of the world's top technology companies in both consumer electronics and some of the key components that go into them.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company is also the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips and liquid crystal displays. It ranks behind Finland's Nokia Corp. in mobile phones.
Choi said that the global economy was likely to build on momentum from the second half of last year when it benefited from government stimulus measures put in place to bolster growth following the 2008 financial crisis.
"In particular, the advanced countries such as the U.S. and EU are likely to see a plus, or a positive, growth and the newly emerging countries, including BRICS, will accelerate their growth rate," he said, referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Regarding sales, Choi said that Samsung will adjust to what he called exchange rate "uncertainties" by working to reduce costs and gain further "market dominance," an apparent reference to increasing market share.
"We hope to see a two-digit growth compared to year 2009" sales, he said, referring to percentage change.
Samsung racked up record sales of 136.29 trillion won, or $120.48 billion at current exchange rates, in 2009 on a consolidated basis -- which includes the performance of its overseas and domestic subsidiaries excluding financial businesses.
Samsung --...
Tue, 23 Mar 10
iPad Developers Sworn to Secrecy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72279
Apple makes big demands of software developers who want an early crack at the iPad. Would-be testers of the tablet-style computer, due to be released Apr. 3, must promise to keep it isolated in a room with blacked-out windows, according to four people familiar with the more than 10-page pact that bars partners from disclosing information about the iPad.
To ensure that it can't be removed, the iPad must also remain tethered to a fixed object, said the people, who asked not to be named because their plans for the iPad have not been made public. Apple won't send out an iPad until potential partners send photographic evidence that they've complied.
Cupertino [Calif.]-based Apple shrouds its products in secrecy to build marketing mystique and keep rivals from getting an early look. In a practice known as seeding, the computer maker lets in select partners who can develop and test features such as games and digital book-reading tools to add allure to a product that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says may generate $4.6 billion in sales next year. "It sinks or swims on the content," says Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf. "Apple wants to have as much in the way of applications on the device sooner rather than later."
Bending to Apple's demands may be a small price to pay for inclusion among software programmers who get a jump start on applications for a potentially best-selling product. Munster expects Apple to sell 3 million to 4 million iPads in the first year. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment. A copy of the so-called nondisclosure agreement could not be obtained by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Apple has always required developers to keep prerelease versions of its devices under lock and key. The company is known to alter products it sends out so...
Sun, 21 Mar 10
Facebook News Readers More Loyal Than Googlers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72293
First, Facebook dethroned Google as the most trafficked web site in the United States, and now the social networking community has proven to have an extremely loyal following among news readers, potentially threatening the dominant position held by Google News. So says a recent Hitwise survey.
"A few weeks ago when I posted my blog entry about Facebook being the largest news reader, I received a few comments and emails noting that visitors aren't as valuable if they don't come back," said Heather Hopkins, a senior online market analyst for Hitwise. "Advertisers and retailers need some assurance that visitors will return again and again."
Well, Hitwise data might provide that assurance. Hopkins' latest revelation shows that visitors from Facebook.com are more loyal to news and media web sites than visitors from Google News.
Hopkins points to a specific example she discovered based on Hitwise data: Among the top five print media web sites for the week ending March 6, 2010, 78 percent of Facebook users returned to that site to consume more news, versus only 67 percent of Google News users making return visits.
How does that compare to broadcast media? The numbers are fairly similar. Hitwise shows that 77 percent Facebook users return to broadcast news sites compared to a 64 percent repeat-visitor rate for Google News users.
Getting more granular, Hitwise data show 81 percent of visits to CNN.com in the week of March 6, 2010 were returning visitors. While 84 percent of visitors to CNN.com that came from Facebook.com were returning visitors, only 72 percent from Google News were returning.
"I've been encouraged by some readers to include Google.com in this series. In most cases, Google.com is the number one source of traffic to these sites. Interestingly, visitors from Google are less likely to be returning visitors than average for...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Basketball, Facebook and Gossip Are Malware Targets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72292
Cybercriminals have been busy this week running scams that target Facebook users, college basketball fans, and celebrity gossip watchers. Security experts are warning about recent attacks with nasty payloads.
One widespread attack was a common ploy security researchers call the Facebook Password Reset Scam. The cybercriminals send an e-mail addressed to "user of Facebook" that reads, "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in the attached document."
McAfee reports that this scam is global. The attachment is malware with downloaders, password-stealing Trojans, fake antivirus software, or bots. The scam ranked six on McAfee's Global Virus Map Top 10, and accounted for as much as 10 percent of the infected e-mail that its software-as-a-service unit is witnessing.
"As we had previously discussed in our 2010 Threat Predictions, social-networking sites will continue to be a favorite social-engineering lure for cybercriminals to distribute malware," said David Marcus, research labs manager at McAfee. "Make sure you are protected and educated."
At a time when college basketball fans are going wild, cybercriminals are actively pursuing opportunities for scams. Basketball fans go online to fill out bracket selections, and when they do, hackers are also playing their own game of spamdexing, i.e. manipulating search results to promote sites, according to James Duldulao, a security researcher at McAfee. In this case, he explained, cybercriminals are spamdexing malware-infected sites.
This week, the top results for terms like "ncaa bracket" and "march madness predictions" were poisoned. McAfee reports that five out of the first 10 hot searches on Google Trends are being promoted by a network of legitimate sites that were hacked to serve malware. One site had an embedded Flash file that downloads malware from another site and installs it without user interaction.
"Who would have thought...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Apple Files Patent for Mobile Social Networking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72291
Apple is tapping into the social arena with plans to launch a social-networking application. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has filed a patent with the U.S. Patent & Trade Office describing a social-network application dubbed iGroups.
The application for patent, made available on Thursday, reveals that Apple is working on an ad-hoc social network that would enable users to communicate with one another without using a central access point or mobile-device networks such as Bluetooth's personal area network (PAN) or piconet (an ad-hoc computer network that links a group of devices using Bluetooth technology).
Instead, iGroups would enable users to use the Bluetooth-enabled devices to communicate by setting the devices to a Token Exchange mode.
While set in this mode, all device owners or group members within a geographic range of one another would be able to broadcast and receive tokens. Tokens can be exchanged using a communication link within limited range.
The tokens received by members are stored locally on the device or sent to a trusted service operating remotely on a network such as Apple's MobileMe.
"In some implementations, the tokens can be stored with corresponding time stamps to assist a trusted service in matching the tokens with tokens provided by other devices," writes Apple in its patent application. "The trusted service can perform an analysis on the tokens and time stamps to identify devices that were colocated at the geographic location at a given contact time, which can be determined by the time stamps."
Members would then be able to set up accounts with the service by registering through a portal or web site managed by the trusted service.
User interfaces, filters and search engines would let users search and manage groups. The groups can be used with various applications, including calendars, address books, e-mail, and instant messaging.
Apple...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Browser Choice Boosts Downloads of Opera 10.5
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72290
In the wake of the browser choice screen in Europe, Opera Software is reporting a dramatic uptick in browser downloads. The company said more than half the European downloads of Opera 10.50 have come directly from Microsoft's choice screen since early March.
Microsoft used to configure Internet Explorer as the default browser for its Windows operating system, but under pressure from the European Commission, it agreed last October to test-market measures to give Europeans an option to download and install competing browsers like Opera, Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox.
European Windows users are getting a choice through a browser screen that is displayed automatically and lets users make any browser the default. Users can even turn Microsoft's Internet Explorer off, although Microsoft has said there's no need to do that to make another browser the default.
"This confirms that when users are given a real choice on how they choose the most important piece of software on their computer, the browser, they will try out alternatives," said Håkon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software. A multitude of browsers will make the web more standardized and easier to browse.
p
According to Opera, the increase represents more than a doubling from the normal download numbers -- even only after a short period with the choice screen. The choice screen rollout will continue well into May for existing Windows computers and for five more years on new Windows installations, giving Opera reason to believe it will continue to see more downloads.
p
Of course, Internet Explorer remains dominant with 61.58 percent of the browser market. But Opera is nevertheless rejoicing over the browser screen and has rolled out Opera 10.50, which it bills as the fastest-ever browser for Windows computers. Opera 10.50 also has a new design and private browsing.
p
subhead
Mobile Competition
/subhead
p
Opera is also pressing to...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Microsoft Eases Windows XP Mode Requirements
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72289
Microsoft released a software update Thursday that eliminates some of the hardware requirements for running Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 PCs. The goal is to make it far easier for small and midsize businesses to migrate to Windows 7 while retaining access to critical legacy applications that are unable to run on machines equipped with Microsoft's latest operating system.
p
Windows 7 Professional users will no longer need to deploy hardware-virtualization technology in order to run their PCs in Windows XP Mode, noted Microsoft's in-house blogger, Brandon LeBlanc. This change makes it extremely easy for businesses to use Windows XP Mode to address any application incompatibility roadblocks they might have in migrating to Windows 7, LeBlanc wrote.
p
subhead
Right from the Desktop
/subhead
p
Available on the professional and ultimate editions of Windows 7 introduced last October, Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC will enable business PC users to run multiple Windows environments from the Windows 7 desktop. This week's upgrade also includes new features such as USB support as well as one-click launch of Windows XP Mode apps.
p
The applications running in Windows XP look and feel like they are installed directly on Windows 7, said Microsoft Senior Product Manager Ran Oelgiesser. Users will see icons for their applications in the Windows 7 start menu, [and] they can even create shortcuts for them on the desktop.
p
Windows XP Mode will continue to harness the power of CPU-based virtualization technologies such as Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD-V if available, LeBlanc noted, though these and other hardware-based virtualization technologies are no longer an absolute requirement. For larger enterprise-class customers, however, Microsoft continues to recommend the use of Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), which is part of the software giant's desktop optimization pack for software assurance.
p
Windows XP Mode is great as long as you are OK...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Leftover Phones Show Palm's Market Share Is Falling
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72288
With more than half its latest devices left on store shelves at the end of the third quarter, things may be getting out of hand for Palm as the manufacturer struggles to hold market share in the rapidly evolving telecom market.
p
The company's projected fourth-quarter earnings will be about half the $300 million projected by Wall Street analysts. After Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein and CFO Doug Jeffries held a conference call with industry analysts to discuss the bad news, the company's shares fell 19 percent to $4.08, the lowest level in more than a year, and some advisers urged investors to sell.
p
subheadStill Optimistic/subhead
p
Our recent underperformance has been extremely disappointing to me personally and the entire Palm team, said Rubinstein in the conference call, according to Bloomberg. We're very realistic about our near-term challenges, but the issues we're facing are far from insurmountable.
p
Palm said only 408,000 of the 960,000 handsets it shipped in the third quarter ending in January sold, amounting to an $18.5 million loss. That was far less than the $95 million loss during the same period last year. In January, the company introduced updated versions of its Pre and Pixi smartphones with added features and more memory.
p
But Palm phones, available through Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, have been losing market share amid a surge by Google's Android operating system, including the HTC-manufactured Nexus One, sold by Google and T-Mobile, and the Motorola Droid, sold by Verizon.
p
According to comScore, Android-based phones have doubled their share of the market to 7.1 percent, while Palm fell from 7.8 percent to 5.7 percent. At the same time, market leaders Research in Motion gained 1.7 percent to 43 percent, and Apple advanced 0.3 percent to 25.1 percent, comScore said.
p
subheadBad Marketing?/subhead
p
IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas sees bad marketing as at least part of...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
iPad Pre-Orders Reported in 'Hundreds of Thousands'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72287
With Apple's iPad scheduled to go on sale on April 3, a new report indicates there may be strong pre-order demand. This could mean the iPad is on the verge of being a breakthrough product for tablet computers.
p
On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to unnamed sources, pre-orders have totaled hundreds of thousands of units, which could also indicate that the iPad will challenge the iPhone's phenomenal debut. However, it's not clear if these reported pre-orders are actual sales or simply non-sale reservations for later pickups.
p
subhead
Arranging Content for Launch
/subhead
p
To help drive sales, Apple is reportedly working overtime to make as many arrangements as possible for media content. This includes deals with publishers of newspapers, magazines and textbooks, as well as with TV networks and Hollywood studios.
p
Apparently, though, Apple is running into resistance from the print publishers, some of whom are wary of cutting into their existing revenue. The Journal said Apple is backburnering its negotiations with print publishers and focusing more on such media content as TV shows.
p
Industry analysts are generally bullish on the iPad's prospects. For instance, Current Analysis' Avi Greengart said he expects the iPad's long-term sales prospects will be strong, because sales will increase as the initial price points inevitably drop.
p
If these numbers from the Journal's sources are correct, he said, they could indicate that the market for early adopters of this new product could be bigger than expected.
p
subhead
Clear Value Propositions
/subhead
p
The iPad, Greengart said, is the first tablet product that has a clear set of value propositions, so price is the main issue. He said these values include web surfing, media consumption such as movie watching, reading e-books, and access to the more than 100,000 applications available for the iPod touch, without modification.
p
In addition, he expects we'll soon see a huge number of apps that...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Court Airs Dirty Laundry from Viacom-Google Battle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72274
The Viacom-Google battle over YouTube's alleged copyright infringement has been going on mostly behind the scenes for years. But court documents made public this week shed some light on the unfolding drama.
p
Viacom filed suit against Google in 2007 for allegedly allowing users to upload more than 100,000 videos clips containing copyrighted Viacom content, including parts of shows from MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The suit, which seeks $1 billion in damages, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
p
Now the court is making documents public. Revelations include a Google claim that Viacom employees posted clips on YouTube and complained about YouTube hosting them. The documents also reveal Viacom's unsuccessful bid for YouTube in October 2006. Google won the bidding wars and paid $1.65 billion for the video-sharing site.
p
Google beat out Viacom, and Viacom has had sour grapes ever since, said Ilan Barzilay, a litigator at Seyfarth Shaw in Boston. As far as immediate impact on these things on the lawsuit, this isn't going to mean much. The parties are filing motions and the court will be addressing issues on summary judgment. The court may or may not ultimately decide the case on summary judgment or may cue it up for trial, which would be a circus.
p
subhead
Built on Infringement?
/subhead
p
As Viacom sees it, YouTube was intentionally built on infringement. In a published statement, Viacom said there are countless internal YouTube communications demonstrating that YouTube's founders and its employees intended to profit from that infringement.
p
By their own admission, the site contained 'truckloads' of infringing content and founder Steve Chen explained that YouTube needed to 'steal' videos because those videos make 'our traffic soar', Viacom said. Google bought YouTube because it was a haven of infringement. Google knew that YouTube's popularity depended on infringing materials, with several...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Yahoo Buying Fantasy Sports Company Citizen Sports
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72268
Yahoo is buying a fantasy sports company co-founded by an MIT graduate whose card-counting skills helped him win millions of dollars in blackjack and spawned a film and a best-selling book.
p
Citizen Sports offers fantasy leagues for sports such as football, soccer and basketball that fans can manage online at social-networking sites and through mobile applications for Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Google Inc.'s Android operating software.
p
With Citizen Sports, Yahoo is looking to boost its social-networking offerings, an area the company has struggled in even though, according to comScore, it commands the largest U.S. Internet audience in news, sports and finance.
p
Yahoo did not release financial details of its purchase, which it expects to close by June.
p
Millions of people participate in fantasy leagues. Participants rack up points based on the performance of the sports players they pick to be on their make-believe teams.
p
Jeff Ma, whose antics in Las Vegas and Atlantic City inspired Bringing Down the House and, more recently, the movie 21, started Citizen Sports with business partner Mike Kerns in 2004.
p
Yahoo said Wednesday that Citizen Sports will be integrated with content from its sports news and information site, Yahoo Sports, and vice versa.
p
Citizen Sports, which is privately held, now has 39 million unique visitors in the U.S. each month.
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Hacker Wreaks Wireless Havoc on Vehicles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72264
A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday.
p
Austin police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, on Wednesday, charging him with felony breach of computer security.
p
Ramos-Lopez used a former colleague's password to deactivate starters and set off car horns, police said. Several car owners said they had to call tow trucks and were left stranded at work or home.
p
He caused these customers, now victims, to miss work, Austin police spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga said. They didn't get paid. They had to get tow trucks. They didn't know what was going on with their vehicles.
p
Ramos-Lopez was in the Travis County Jail on Wednesday with bond set at $3,000. The Associated Press could not find a working phone number for his family.
p
The Texas Auto Center dealership in Austin installs GPS devices that can prevent cars from starting. The system is used to repossess cars when buyers are overdue on payments, said Jeremy Norton, a controller at the dealership where Ramos-Lopez worked. Car horns can be activated when repo agents go to collect vehicles and believe the owners are hiding them.
p
We are taking extra measures to make sure this never happens again, Norton said.
p
Starting in mid-February, dealership employees noticed unusual changes to their business records. Someone was going into the system and changing customers' names, such as having dead rapper Tupac Shakur buying a 2009 vehicle, Norton said.
p
Soon, customers began calling saying their cars wouldn't start, or that their horns were going off incessantly, forcing them to disengage the battery. Norton said the dealership originally thought the cars had mechanical problems.
p
Then employees noticed someone had ordered $130,000 in parts and equipment from the company that makes the GPS devices.
p
Police said they...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
HTC Vows To Fight an Apple Lawsuit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72261
HTC Corp., the Taiwanese cell phone maker sued by Apple for patent infringement, said Thursday it will defend itself against charges that it lifted iPhone technology.
p
In his first public comment on the suit, HTC chief Peter Chou said the company disagrees with Apple's actions, though he did not go into specifics.
p
Apple says HTC's phones -- several of which use Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating software -- infringe on 20 of its patents. The patents cover technology like iPhone two-finger screen recognition, which allows users to perform multiple functions on the gadget.
p
The suit, filed earlier this month, served as a warning to rivals that Apple Inc. is ready to aggressively defend its technology amid intensifying competition in the smart phone market. Phones based on Google's Android software have emerged as a major threat.
p
In his statement Thursday, Chou avoided addressing Apple's claims directly. He said, HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done.
p
He added, We will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Seattlepi.com Celebrates a Year of Web-Only News
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72256
Seattlepi.com, the online successor to the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, celebrates its first birthday Thursday with music, free cupcakes and cheap beer.
p
For a Web-only publication that launched in the depths of the Great Recession, just sticking around 12 months may be reason enough to party.
p
Seattlepi.com formally launched March 18, 2009, a day after the nearly 146-year-old P-I published its last edition on newsprint, leaving The Seattle Times as the city's only newspaper printed daily. The P-I's owner, New York-based Hearst Corp., had been losing money on the newspaper for years and hopes the online version will change that.
p
The site is doing really well, said Seattlepi.com's executive producer, Michelle Nicolosi. She said about 4 million people are visiting the Web site each month, about the same as were visiting the Post-Intelligencer's site before the print version ceased publication.
p
It's gratifying that people are still finding value in what we do, she said.
p
While readership may be stable, whether there's enough money to be made on the Internet is still an open question.
p
Overall they are a journalistic success and a financial work in progress, said industry analyst Ken Doctor of Outsell Inc. in Burlingame, Calif.
p
For Hearst, Seattlepi.com is a good learning lab, Doctor said. They're learning how to be an effective online-only newspaper.
p
The P-I was the first major metropolitan daily in the country to go Web-only. Few have followed suit, Doctor and other analysts said, because print versions still provide the vast majority of newspapers' income and it's far from clear how online sites can be profitable, especially in a bad economy.
p
When it made the switch, the P-I let go most of its 181 employees. About two dozen now report the news and run the Web site.
p
With the smaller crew, Nicolosi said, the Web site has focused on core news, such as...
Sat, 20 Mar 10
Verizon, ATT, Google in a Broadband Speed Race
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72254
The race to provide ultrafast broadband is on. In May, Cleveland will become a test bed for a service, spearheaded by Case Western Reserve University, that lets residents of more than 100 homes download data at about 1 gigabit per second. In February, Google said it plans an ultra-high-speed broadband network covering as many as 500,000 users. The purpose of this project is to experiment and learn, Google said in a blog introducing the idea. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. The U.S. government's National Broadband Plan, released on Mar. 16, also urges that speedier broadband be more extensively deployed.
p
The plans by Google and Case Western may add to pressure on the largest broadband providers such as Verizon Communications, ATT, and Comcast to accelerate their own deployments and could create a windfall for the makers of networking equipment, analysts say. Pre-Google announcement, it would have been five years before such speeds became common, says John Mazur, a principal analyst at Ovum, a telecom market researcher. Post-Google announcement, it could be sooner.
p
A download speed of 1 gigabit per second [Gbps] is 20 times faster than top speeds Verizon offers consumers and more than 256 times faster than the speeds available to the average broadband subscriber. Broadband providers are trying to meet a surge in demand for video and other services delivered over networks, sometimes wirelessly. Global data traffic may increase fivefold by 2013, according to Cisco.
p
subhead
Government Goals
/subhead
p
The National Broadband Plan proposes that the Defense Dept. make 1 Gbps connections available on select military bases. It also wants American schools, hospitals, and government buildings to have access to such connections by 2020. The plan outlines measures designed to create more broadband providers through auctions of airwaves needed...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Google Says Viacom Illegally Uploaded YouTube Videos
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72273
A back-and-forth battle is brewing between Internet search giant Google and media giant Viacom. Both companies are taking aggressive legal shots against each other after Viacom filed a copyright claim against Google's YouTube service.
Google has fired back, saying Viacom illegally uploaded videos to YouTube, according to documents filed with U.S. District Court in New York.
In 2007, Viacom took action against YouTube, alleging the company infringed on its television network, including MTV, Comedy Central, Black Entertainment Television, and others. Viacom also contended videos infringed on movies owned by its Paramount Pictures subsidiary.
The clash between the two giants came after Viacom failed to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion. Viacom, according to court documents, also attempted to create a content-sharing partnership with YouTube, but after months of negotiations Google announced it was acquiring YouTube. Viacom also offered to be a copurchaser, according to Google.
Google acquired the Internet video service in October 2006 and said it believes Viacom is taking legal action out of desperation and after repeatedly trying to purchase YouTube.
The search giant also charged that Viacom went so far as to hire more than a dozen marketing agencies to upload its content to YouTube. As a result, Viacom wasn't able to tell which content was uploaded with or without authorization and had to eliminate nearly 500 claims from its complaint, Google said.
The fight over whether YouTube is a hands-off provider is critical to fending off charges of copyright infringement, according to Ilan Barzilay, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
"The copyright laws allow Internet service providers and similar entities a 'safe harbor' for infringement allegations," he said. "If the provider doesn't knowingly allow or assist acts of infringement, it won't be held liable for the acts of its users."
The intent of this protection is to relieve providers of...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
North Americans Pay the Highest Prices for Mobile Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72272
Mobile applications are one of the fastest-growing segments of the high-tech economy, with some analysts estimating an $11 billion industry by 2014. A report by the Yankee Group projects that U.S. consumers this year will spend $1.6 billion downloading apps that make mobile devices more fun or useful.
But Americans and Canadians are paying a premium for that luxury. A study released Wednesday found that, on average, users in the U.S. and Canada pay more than five times more for apps than users in other parts of the world, accounting for 50 percent of global app revenue.
The technology and strategy consulting firm Chetan Sharma analyzed figures from developers, carriers and equipment manufacturers to come up with the data for Getjar, which is believed to be the second-largest app seller after Apple.
It found that North Americans on average shell out $1.09, the highest sum in the world, for apps that sell elsewhere for less than 20 cents.
Chetan Sharma's research found that Europeans generally pay less than 80 cents for apps, while the lowest average sales prices (ASP) were, in descending order, in South America, Asia, and the Middle East/Africa. All those consumers pay less than 20 cents, the study said.
"It is evident that the business models required for the emerging markets will be quite different than the western markets, as the market economics and dynamics are quite different," the study says. "For the emerging markets, it is a volumes game. While the ASPs will be smaller, if an overall strategy is executed well, the volume of data usage and app downloads can make up for the smaller per-unit revenues (either from paid downloads or advertising)."
Chetan Sharma noted that while smartphones are less common outside the U.S., "application downloads in emerging markets can actually exceed downloads on smartphones in western...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Facebook Pulls in More Web Traffic Than Google
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72271
In a possible sign of the sea change that social networking has brought to the Internet, new industry data show that U.S. visits to Facebook last week exceeded, for the first time, those to the former top site, Google. While the difference was relatively small for the week ending March 13 -- 7.07 percent of all visits for Facebook, compared to 7.03 percent for Google -- the trend could point to the growing strength of the social Internet.
This compares to a year ago, when Facebook visits were 2.48 percent of traffic in the U.S., compared to Google's 6.46 percent. Taken together, the two sites now account for about one in every seven visits by Internet users.
The report by industry watcher Hitwise measured visits, not visitors, meaning one visitor could go to Facebook, quit and return several times in a day for multiple visits. This could indicate that Facebook fans are returning more frequently than Google fans, or more visitors are going to Facebook -- or both.
Hitwise's report doesn't count traffic to Google-owned sites such as Google Maps or YouTube, but only to the primary Google.com domain. Significantly, it also doesn't measure searches through a Google box embedded into another site.
The neck-and-neck traffic race between the two sites is interesting for several reasons.
On one level, Facebook and Google have been competing in their social-networking platforms for which other sites and third-party developers can sign up -- Facebook Connect versus Google Friend Connect. While Hitwise's traffic data doesn't reflect those platforms, it does show that the two web sites are in the best position to propagate social platforms.
On another level, Facebook's phenomenal growth could be an indication of a shift in reasons why people in the U.S. and other countries use the web.
Brad Shimmin, an...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
FCC Faces Battle To Pay for a Public-Safety Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72270
Even as congressional Democrats discuss an opt-out provision for national health-care reform -- a move that undercuts the basic premise of President Obama's proposal, that real efficiencies can only be created when everyone is insured -- private interests are taking aim at the administration's proposal to impose a national broadband tax.
Part of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's far-reaching broadband plan -- which calls for broadband penetration rates in excess of 90 percent -- is an interoperable public-safety network. That would let disparate public-safety networks run by all levels of government to seamlessly communicate.
"The country must do better," the FCC says in the 376-page plan. "With broadband, 911 call centers ... could receive text, pictures and videos from the public and relay them to first responders, [and] the government could use broadband networks to disseminate vital information to the public during emergencies in multiple formats and languages.
p
subhead
Years of Stagnation
/subhead
p
There has been a consensus on the need for interoperable public-safety networks since 9/11/2001, when state and local agencies failed to communicate key information due to a lack of interoperability. Under former Chairman Kevin Martin, the FCC ran a high-profile auction of spectrum -- the so-called D block -- that came with myriad requirements that the private sector provide support for public networks.
p
No company was interested and the auction failed to fetch its $1.3 billion reserve price.
p
Genachowski is suggesting the creation of an Emergency Response Interoperability Center under the FCC that would ensure that devices and networks work together.
p
Focusing on interoperability from the beginning should help the public-safety broadband network to overcome the difficulties faced by other earlier voice efforts, the report says.
p
subhead
Paying the Bill
/subhead
p
But if having a public-safety network that really works is good for everyone, it's not the sort of thing that can be handed off to the private...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Amazon.com Offers Kindle for Mac E-Reader Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72269
Amazon.com introduced a free software package Thursday that gives Mac computer users access to the online retailer's Kindle e-book store in more than 100 countries. Called Kindle for Mac, the beta e-reader completes Amazon's goal of offering consumers access to e-books and other digital content across a wide spectrum of electronic devices.
p
Kindle books can now be read on dedicated Kindle and Kindle DX devices, BlackBerry handsets, and PCs, as well as Apple's Mac, iPhone and iPod touch, Amazon said. Moreover, the company's e-reader software is expected to work on Apple's forthcoming iPad.
p
Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX, said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle. For those customers around the world who don't yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites.
p
subhead
Cross-Platform Support
/subhead
p
The system requirements for Kindle for Mac include a Mac computer with a 500-MHz Intel processor or faster, a minimum of 512MB of RAM, and 100MB of available disk space. The beta release, which is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard), also requires a minimum screen resolution of 800x600 pixels.
p
Just like Amazon's other e-reader platforms, Kindle for Mac integrates the company's homegrown Whispersync technology, which automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks -- and the last page read -- across multiple devices. As a result, customers who begin reading an e-book on any compatible device will never lose their place when they switch to another platform.
p
With Kindle for Mac, readers will be able to choose from 10 different font sizes as well as adjust words on a per-line basis. The new beta release also will enable users to view notes and highlights previously marked...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Pricey Nexus One Moving To ATT, Sprint Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72253
Google's Nexus One may have gotten off to a rocky start with consumers, but the superphone is making fast inroads with wireless carriers. Google this week started selling a Nexus One that will run on ATT's 3G network, and has also inked a deal with Sprint Nextel. Google previously struck deals with T-Mobile, Vodafone and Verizon Wireless.
p
Sprint hasn't announced pricing or the availability date, but the carrier is already priming the competitive pump with marketing messages that proclaim its network has twice the coverage of ATT and 10 times the coverage of T-Mobile.
p
Meanwhile, the Nexus One is going head-to-head with Apple's iPhone on the ATT network. ATT recently started adding Android-based phones in anticipation of its exclusive relationship with Apple ending. Sprint got into the Android market recently with the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero. Sprint also offers Palm's latest devices.
p
Google struck deals with the carriers, but not really. There's no carrier services being offered. The carriers are not selling the phone, said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. The best we are seeing is some degree of subsidy for the device for new users, but that's not overly interesting.
p
subhead
The Unsubsidized Factor
/subhead
p
ATT and Sprint customers have to access the Nexus One online store to purchase the phone. Despite a large volume of complaints about customer service, Google insists that its online experience is designed with a focus on simplicity, allowing consumers to match a phone with the service plan that best meets their needs.
p
In addition to not selling the phone, it doesn't appear that either ATT or Sprint will subsidize the Nexus One. Consumers who want to use a Nexus One on ATT's network will pay the full price of $529 for an unlocked model, and that could hurt the Nexus One's chances on ATT. Consumers can get...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Google and Partners Working on Web-Based TV Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72246
Taking one more step into the broadcasting world, Google is planning a web-based TV service in partnership with tech giants like Intel, Logitech and Sony. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Google TV effort is in its preliminary stages.
p
The industry behemoths are reportedly collaborating on software that will help users navigate web-based video programming on traditional television sets. The software would offer a platform on which other developers could launch programs, the Journal reported. The technology could show up in future TVs, Blu-ray players or set-top boxes.
p
The movement of web content to TV or the emergence of TV as a platform for accessing the web is already happening and will continue to gain momentum, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. Google as well its partners want to be a part of that movement as it goes mainstream.
p
subhead
Google vs Apple
/subhead
p
The Journal report is further evidence that Google is moving to dominate on yet another screen: The television. Google is also reportedly testing a service that runs on TV set-top boxes that host its software and enables viewers to find shows on Dish Network and video on web sites like YouTube. Google's experiment offers the search giant access to 14 million Dish viewers, signaling the potential to yield valuable results.
p
With 168 million U.S. Internet users watching online videos in September, according to comScore, and nearly 26 billion videos viewed during a month, the opportunity is clear. And with the convergence of broadcast and Internet video, the opportunity is drawing plenty of attention from startups and industry giants alike.
p
Apple launched Apple TV in January 2007 as a way to let consumers wirelessly play iTunes content from a Mac or PC on a widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts. The Apple...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Microsoft's Bing Nabs More Web Searches in February
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72237
Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine gained market share in the U.S. in February, according to research groups.
p
Microsoft has worked for years to improve its search technology and narrow the gap with Google Inc. After launching its redesigned search site last June, the company waged a major marketing campaign to position Bing as better than Google or No. 2 Yahoo for shopping, booking travel and searching for medical information.
p
Microsoft remains in the No. 3 spot, but Bing's share of U.S. searches has crept up a few percentage points since its June 2009 launch, primarily at Yahoo's expense, according to research groups.
p
Now there's a sign -- albeit a small one -- that Bing may also be tempting some Googlers.
p
The Nielsen Co., one of the research groups that tracks the space, said Tuesday that Bing's share of U.S. searches crept up to 12.5 percent from 10.9 percent in January. Yahoo's share slipped to 14.1 percent from 14.5 percent, and Google's decreased to 65.2 from 66.3, Nielsen said.
p
But tracking Web searches is an imprecise business, and methods and estimates vary among research groups. Last week, comScore Inc. published its own February search rankings, which showed Google gaining a tenth of a percent to 65.5 percent. Microsoft's share edged up to 11.5 percent from 11.3 percent by comScore's count, while Yahoo's slice of U.S. Web searches slipped to 16.8 percent from 17 percent.
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Pirated Software Downloads Are Costly for Europe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72234
Europeans downloaded (EURO)10 billion worth of pirated music, film, television shows and software from the Web in 2008, an entertainment industry study said Wednesday.
p
The International Chamber of Commerce said its report showed that digital piracy could escalate and cost media and entertainment industries (EURO)240 billion in retail revenue and 1.2 million jobs by 2015.
p
The 2015 estimate is a worst-case scenario, the study said, based on consumer Web traffic growing 24 percent annually.
p
For us, file sharing is another word for theft, Agnete Haaland, the head of the International Actors Federation told reporters.
p
Teens frequently pass music and movies to their friends without realizing that they are illegally sharing copyrighted material, said William Maunier, who leads the UNI trade union representing media company workers.
p
You have to educate young people, he said.
p
Industry representatives did not say how they thought growing Internet piracy should be tackled, saying they just want people to see the extent of the problem.
p
They said they also wanted to show the costs to the European Parliament which last year tried unsuccessfully to challenge France's tough measures against illegal downloaders.
p
French President Nicolas Sarkozy had advocated a three strikes and you're out rule, under which Internet use would be tracked and users caught downloading would be warned twice before their Internet access would be cut off for a year.
p
Britain is also considering similar rules.
p
The report written by Tera Consultants said that 8.5 million people in the European Union work in creative industries such as television, publishing and radio.
p
It claims that over 185,000 jobs were lost because of digital piracy in 2008.
p
This figure includes people whose jobs are marginally tied to the creative industry, such as manufacturers and wholesalers of cameras and music players.
p
The report uses data from EU countries, the World Intellectual Property Organization and Eurostat, the EU's statistical gathering arm.
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Is Your Boss Spying on You at Work?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72230
Almost every worker has done it: gotten in a little Facebook updating, personal e-mailing, YouTube watching and friend calling while on the clock.
p
Such indiscretions often went undetected by company management everywhere but the most secure and highly proprietary companies or governmental agencies. Not anymore.
p
Firms have become sharp-eyed, keenly eared watchdogs as they try to squeeze every penny's worth of their employees' salaries and to ensure they have the most professional and lawsuit-proof workplaces.
p
Managers use technological advances to capture workers' computer keystrokes, monitor the Web sites they frequent, even track their whereabouts through GPS-enabled cell phones. Some companies have gone as far as using webcams and minuscule video cameras to secretly record employees' movements.
p
There are two trends driving the increase in monitoring, says Lewis Maltby, author of the workplace rights book Can They Do That? One is financial pressure. Everyone is trying to get leaner and meaner, and monitoring is one way to do it. The other reason is that it's easier than ever. It used to be difficult and expensive to monitor employees, and now, it's easy and cheap.
p
Employers no longer have to hire a pricey private investigator to install a complicated video system or computer-use tracking devices. Now, they can easily buy machine-monitoring software and tiny worker-tracking cameras at a local electronics store or through Internet retailers.
p
Monitoring has expanded beyond expected, highly regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals and financial services. Employees at radio stations, ad agencies, media outlets, sports leagues, even thinly staffed mom-and-pop workplaces are tracked.
p
Smarsh, one of many firms that offers technology to monitor, archive and search employee communications on e-mail, IM, Twitter and text-messaging, services about 10,000 U.S. workplaces.
p
Employees should assume that they are going to be watched, says CEO Stephen Marsh.
p
subhead
Keeping an Eye Out
/subhead
p
Two-thirds of employers monitor workers' Internet use, according to an American Management...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Nokia's Kallasvuo Vows To 'Move Even Faster'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72229
Nokia is the global cell-phone leader, with sales of 329 million units in 2009. Yet when it comes to feature-packed smartphones in some markets, including the U.S., analysts say Nokia is under threat from rivals Apple, Research In Motion, and Google.
p
Case in point: Nokia's Comes With Music service, which adds music to the purchase price of a handset, was introduced in 2007 just as Apple's music-playing iPhone was gaining momentum. Comes With Music has failed to attract large numbers of users, according to Music Ally, a U.K.-based digital music research firm, even as iPhone demand has surged.
p
Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo spoke with Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl on Mar. 16 about Nokia's plans for the U.S. market, its acquisition strategy, and an alliance with Microsoft to create mobile applications for businesses. He also addresses efforts to make Symbian, the operating system acquired by Nokia in 2008, more attractive to software developers.
p
iWhat do you think of Nokia's prospects in the U.S. in 2010?/i
p
We have taken several steps to enhance and boost our position in the U.S. And that adds to the dynamics. One that hasn't gotten much attention is our cooperation with Microsoft in order to introduce and co-create enterprise applications on top of our Symbian operating system. This is a pretty big effort to become prominent in the enterprise segment.
p
iWhat do you expect to deliver as a result of the cooperation with Microsoft this year?/i
p
It's more like 2011. We are starting to see certain benefits already. But it's really about 2011. We are not talking about only porting existing business applications and services on top of a mobile platform, but we are talking about co-creating as well.
p
iThe analyst Michael Gartenberg was recently quoted as saying, Nokia failed to lead a changed market and has been...
Fri, 19 Mar 10
Twitter Plans To Create a Chinese Registration Page
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72208
Twitter is working on a way to allow Chinese users to sign up to the social networking site in their own language, a co-founder of the site said Monday night, but access to the popular site remains blocked in the country.
p
Jack Dorsey said at a panel that Twitter is hard at work on allowing users to register in Chinese. Dorsey was responding to a question from Chinese avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei.
p
Ai has been an outspoken critic of Chinese authorities and their continuing efforts to impose censorship. He said he spends about eight hours a day on Twitter.
p
I need a clear answer, yes or no? he said to Dorsey, who joined the conversation via satellite.
p
Yes, it's just a matter of time, Dorsey responded, citing limited staff and technical constraints as challenges for setting up the Chinese registration page.
p
Dorsey, Ai and Richard MacManus, founder of technology blog ReadWriteWeb, were part of a discussion on digital activism at the Paley Center for Media. People from all over the world also participated via Twitter, with their tweets displayed on a large screen behind the panelists.
p
The conversation came only a couple of days after it was reported that Google was 99.9 percent sure to close its search engine in China because of stalled negotiations over censorship. Google has about 35 percent of the Chinese search market. The panelists praised the decision, calling it courageous and inspiring.
p
Ai said he wants Chinese translation on Twitter so users who are able to get past the firewall can read tweets.
p
Since it was founded in 2006, Twitter has emerged as a tool for digital activism in messages of no more than 140 characters. Ai has used it to demand answers about the number of young children who were killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
p
Last April, protesters in Moldova used Twitter when...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Tool Moves Exchange Customers To Google Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72245
Google is making it easier for IT administrators to switch from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The Internet search giant on Wednesday made available a tool to help businesses migrate from Exchange.
The Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool will help lure more companies to Google Apps by simplifying the migration of e-mail, contacts and calendars from both cloud-hosted Exchange servers and those hosted at the customer's location. The tool allows businesses to make the move whether they have a handful or thousands of users.
In July, Google made available a similar tool for companies interested in transferring data from IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino to Google Apps.
The move comes just a week after Google, together with 50 businesses, announced the Google Apps Marketplace, an online store that enables Google Apps administrators to buy third-party cloud applications and include them in their own domains.
Some of the applications integrate with Google Apps using open protocols, according to the company. By integrating the applications, users are able to share data and collaborate while using Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts.
To make the switch, companies must have Google Apps Premier or Education Edition, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007, or hosted Microsoft Exchange and administrator access to both Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange. For businesses already using Google's Standard Edition, Google made a free trial of the Premier edition available.
Cloud services are quickly becoming a core part of the U.S. economy. Corporate IT spending on cloud computing is expected to reach $42 billion by 2012, according to research firm IDC.
If Microsoft plans to tap into that growth, it must first focus on keeping its enterprise customers from migrating from Exchange. The first step must be to begin offering more than just limited cloud-computing services.
Microsoft offers some cloud-computing services via its Business Productivity Online...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
IBM Offers Software Development in the Cloud
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72244
IBM is going deeper into the cloud. On Tuesday, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company announced beta versions of an expanded commercial cloud-based service for software development and testing, on both public and private clouds.
Cloud computing for development and testing environments, the company said, can cut IT costs in half while improving quality, reducing time to market, and utilizing infrastructure more efficiently.
Other benefits cited by IBM include eliminating software defects by as much as 30 percent, reducing quality-assurance testing time, and enabling rapid redeployment of environments across multiple IT projects.
To help build its cloud-computing ecosystem, IBM is working with a variety of partners. These include RightScale and Kaavo to facilitate deployment of applications and workloads, Navajo Systems for additional security, and Silanis for e-signature process management for transactions.
Other partners include Aviarc, Wavemaker and Corent for enabling cloud-based application development, VMLogix for testing, and AppFirst for performance monitoring.
IBM is also launching a new cloud-computing resource on IBM developerWorks, which already has eight million registered developers, IT professionals, and students around the world. The resource center will include articles, videos, blogs and workshops for IT professionals.
Al Hilwa, program director at industry research firm IDC, said the most popular use of the cloud would be testing. In testing, he pointed out, "you need a lot of on-demand engines to run the code in different settings and scenaria." Clouds can offer a wide variety of resources, Hilwa noted, and "the more resources you have, the quicker you can get things done."
But testing in the cloud, he said, is not unique to IBM, adding that Amazon, among others, also offers this capability. The key to IBM's offering, he said, will be the pricing, which was not announced.
It's a good move for IBM, he said, since it is a "giant development...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Cisco Borderless Access Offers Low-Cost Switches
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72243
Cisco on Wednesday released a new network architecture that promises secure wired and wireless communications, energy management, and optimized video-application delivery -- all at a lower cost. Dubbed Cisco Borderless Access, the latest version of the company's Borderless Networks architecture includes a new series of fixed-switching product lines: the Catalyst 3560/3750-X Series and 2960-S Series. The new lines come with lower prices than traditional Cisco switches.
As part of the product announcement, Rob Soderbery, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Ethernet Switching Technology Group, noted that communications, collaboration and entertainment are fast becoming digitized and connected. This trend, he said, is not only loading networks but also changing them.
"Switching and routing are the foundation for innovation that will bring the next generation of the Internet to life," Soderbery said. "Cisco's strategy is to deliver greater value within its core networking offerings and, in turn, provide customers with a more cohesive, architecturally sound IT infrastructure to support the new Internet."
Borderless Access builds on the Borderless Networks vision Cisco rolled out last October and the Cisco Secure Borderless Networks announcement earlier this month. The Borderless Networks architecture works to, as Cisco put it, "help businesses connect anyone to anything, anywhere and anytime in a highly secure, reliable and seamless environment."
The new Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X enterprise-class stackable and stand-alone switches offer high-performance switching with 10-gigabit Ethernet. Cisco also introduced StackPower, a power-interconnect technology that brings power resiliency to a stack of Catalyst 3750-X Series switches. Cisco said a single 1,100-watt power supply can provide power to four switches and the mission-critical endpoints attached to them to help ensure business continuity.
Meanwhile, the Catalyst 2960-S Series offers more access portions and performance than previous models, including FlexStack stacking for increased availability and performance, 10GE uplinks, and EnergyWise...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Nexus One Rival Droid Gets Android 2.1 Update
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72242
After rolling out its latest operating system on its exclusive Nexus One smartphone in January, Google will now release Android 2.1 for a top competitor: the Motorola Droid, which is distributed by Verizon Wireless.
The over-the-air update will be available in batches of 250,000 beginning Thursday, March 18, Verizon Wireless announced. A blog dedicated to Android posted the official software update notice on Wednesday.
The fast-selling Droid is estimated to make up 15 percent of all Android smartphones sold.
According to the analytics firm Flurry, which measures access to key web sites by various smartphones, the Droid reached an estimated 1,050,000 users in its first 74 days on the market -- the same period of time it took Apple to sell one million of its first-generation iPhone in 2007. In the same post-launch period beginning Jan. 5 of this year, the Nexus One sold only 135,000 handsets through its online store and T-Mobile outlets.
The Android update will add to the Droid user experience by allowing limited multitouch, a feature pioneered by the iPhone. Android 2.1 allows pinch-and-zoom interaction with photo galleries, Google Maps and web browsing. A weather and news widget will allow users to receive weekly or hourly updates based on their location and the type of news they prefer, and there is greater support for Yahoo mail accounts.
Android 2.1 also allows users to make more use of text entry by voice, simply by touching the microphone whenever a text window appears. Another dazzling feature is interactive animated wallpaper for backgrounds, and it will be easier to use Google Maps Navigation after dark with a new night-mode illumination feature.
While Android 2.1 and its successors can be an immediate selling point for Verizon Wireless in marketing the Droid, the impact is unclear.
"I don't think it will have a great impact...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Intel's Xeon 5600 May Retire a Lot of 'Geezer Servers'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72241
Intel is pushing its Xeon Processor 5600 series as the most secure data-center processor on the market. The company launched the server and workstation chips on its 32nm logic technology, which relies on second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to boost speed and lower energy consumption.
Intel is shooting high with this offering. But will enterprises buy the new chips that support up to six cores per processor? Will the processors, which offer up to 60 percent better performance than Intel's last generation of chips, make short-term inroads into large data centers in the midst of a recession?
As Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, sees it, the fact that Intel is launching a chipset with 60 percent better performance and 30 percent better energy efficiency should play among two audiences: Companies that increasingly lean on x86-based solutions for demanding business applications and processes, and companies that are trying to lower their data-center power costs or leverage the most out of blades and other high-density server systems.
"If anyone continues to have qualms about the value and validity of x86-based
virtualization, the Xeon 5600 series will help put those doubts to rest," King said. "The notion of retiring 15 single-core systems with a lone Xeon 5600 machine -- and achieving ROI in five months -- should thaw even the frostiest Scrooge-like data-center owner."
King points to market studies suggesting that less than a third of the x86 servers that could be virtualized have actually been virtualized. That leads him to believe that Xeon 5600-based systems are primed to send a lot of "geezer servers" to that "old loading dock in the sky." If they don't, he added, budget-conscious execs should have a word with their IT managers.
From a security perspective, King said fans of proprietary UNIX and mainframe...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Booming Mobile-App Sales May Drive Platform Choices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72240
Analysts at several research firms are predicting explosive growth for mobile-app sales in the years ahead. A new report commissioned by cross-platform app provider Getjar, for example, forecasts worldwide revenue from mobile applications could reach $17.5 billion by the end of next year -- up from $4.1 billion in 2009.
Yankee Group forecasts that mobile-app sales in the United States alone will generate nearly $1.6 billion in revenue this year -- more than double the amount the research firm forecast just six months ago.
"We now expect that U.S. consumers will download almost 1.6 billion apps in 2010, and that those numbers will swell to more than six billion by 2014," noted Yankee Group report author Carl Howe. "Even more impressive, paid app revenue will swell from $1.6 billion this year to more than $11 billion in 2014."
Gartner Research sees consumers spending $6.2 billion at mobile-app stores during 2010, and expects advertising to generate an additional $0.6 billion worldwide. The research firm's analysts also predict that downloads from mobile-app stores will exceed 4.5 billion this year -- eight out of 10 of which will be free to end users.
By 2013, Gartner believes worldwide mobile-app downloads will surpass 21.6 billion, with free offerings accounting for 87 percent of the total. "Application stores will be a core focus throughout 2010 for the mobile industry, and applications themselves will help determine the winner among mobile-device platforms," said Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi.
The Getjar-commissioned report released Wednesday is even more optimistic. "The overall mobile-apps downloads are expected to increase from over seven billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion by 2012, growing at the rate of 92 percent" compound annual growth rate, wrote the report's author, Chetan Sharma.
One of the key driving forces behind all these growth predictions is the...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Pegasystems Acquires Chordiant Software for $161.5M
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72225
In a further consolidation of the customer relationship management (CRM) space, Pegasystems on Tuesday agreed to acquire Chordiant Software for $161.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
The acquisition looks like a steal for Pegasystems. Chordiant's revenues totaled $76.3 million for the four quarters ended Dec. 31, and it made $52.3 million in cash and investments during the same period.
Chordiant works to optimize the customer experience to help global brands multiply customer lifetime value with its suite of "intelligent conversation management applications." Chordiant's software also helps brands measure the effectiveness of business strategies.
Best known for its Build for Change technology, Pegasystems was well-positioned to make a cash acquisition. The company has posted 10 consecutive quarters of record revenue. With the acquisition, Pegasystems adds Chordiant's predictive decision-management solutions to the mix.
Alan Trefler, founder and CEO of Pegasystems, said the merger "creates a broader portfolio which will offer an expanded client base new capabilities to meet next-generation CRM needs." Combined, the companies serve some of the world's largest companies, including Barclays, HSBC and Orange.
"We expect that our customer base will welcome this news, and can look forward to the increased innovation that Pegasystems is known for, along with the many other benefits resulting from the mutual strengths and combined scale of our companies," said Steven Springsteel, chairman, president and CEO of Chordiant.
As a result of the merger, the companies said, Chordiant clients can incorporate Pegasystems intent-driven process automation to drive a better customer experience, and Pegasystems clients can take advantage of Chordiant's predictive decision-management solutions, CRM assets, and expertise in customer experience. The companies also plan to build an expanded partner network.
Chordiant gives Pegasystems more than just new technology -- it gives the company a stronger focus on the financial-services...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
China Without Google: 'A Lose-Lose Scenario'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72207
China without Google -- a prospect that looks increasingly likely -- could mean no more maps on mobile phones. A free music service that has helped to fight piracy might be in jeopardy. China's fledgling Web outfits would face less pressure to improve, eroding their ability to one day compete abroad.
Chinese news reports say Google Inc. is on the verge of making good on a threat to shutter its China site, Google.cn, because Beijing forces the Internet giant to censor search results. The reports indicated that Google had, in fact, already stopped censoring results, but searches Tuesday for sensitive topics like "Tiananmen massacre" appeared to still return only whitewashed results.
A Google spokesman, Scott Rubin, denied censorship had stopped and would not confirm whether Google.cn might close.
The extent of a possible pullout from China is unclear. But on top of a local search site that Google says it may close, services that might be affected range from advertising support for Chinese companies to online entertainment.
"If Google leaves, it's a lose-lose scenario, instead of Google loses and others gain," said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.
Google says it is in talks with Beijing following its Jan. 12 announcement that it no longer wants to comply with Beijing's extensive Web controls. But China's industry minister insisted Friday the company must obey Chinese law, which appears to leave few options other than closing Google.cn, which has about 35 percent of China's search market.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last week something would happen soon, but Rubin, speaking by phone from Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, said no action had yet been taken.
Such a step could have repercussions for major Chinese companies as well as local Web surfers. It would deliver a windfall to local rival Baidu Inc., China's major search...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
Law Enforcement Fights Crime on Facebook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72205
The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too. U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.
Think you know who's behind that "friend" request? Think again. Your new "friend" just might be the FBI.
The document, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, makes clear that U.S. agents are already logging on surreptitiously to exchange messages with suspects, identify a target's friends or relatives and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs and video clips.
Among other purposes: Investigators can check suspects' alibis by comparing stories told to police with tweets sent at the same time about their whereabouts. Online photos from a suspicious spending spree -- people posing with jewelry, guns or fancy cars -- can link suspects or their friends to robberies or burglaries.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group, obtained the Justice Department document when it sued the agency and five others in federal court. The 33-page document underscores the importance of social networking sites to U.S. authorities. The foundation said it would publish the document on its Web site on Tuesday.
With agents going undercover, state and local police coordinate their online activities with the Secret Service, FBI and other federal agencies in a strategy known as "deconfliction" to keep out of each other's way.
"You could really mess up someone's investigation because you're investigating the same person and maybe doing things that are counterproductive to what another agency is doing," said Detective Frank Dannahey of the Rocky Hill, Conn., Police Department, a veteran of dozens of undercover cases.
A decade ago, agents...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
More Courthouses Switching To Digital Technology
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72204
Courts in Iowa, Minnesota and New York are considering replacing at least some court reporters with digital recording systems to cut costs.
If they do, they would follow Utah, Vermont, New Hampshire, Alaska and Kentucky in using electronic recording systems. Utah and Vermont switched exclusively for budget reasons in 2009, according to SueLynn Morgan, president of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), and officials in those states.
"The budget crisis since January 2009 is behind the push now," Morgan said.
Utah was the most recent state to go digital in July, laying off 18 court reporters, with expected savings of more than $1 million per year, courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said.
Among courts considering changes:
*Minnesota. A system called CourtSmart is being used in 15 percent to 20 percent of each day's hearings in Stearns County, Minn., according to District Court Judge Thomas Knapp, who helped implement the technology. "I don't think it's a step showing that we're going to ... eliminate court reporters," Knapp said. "We still need them."
The state's judicial council will make a decision in May or June about expanding the practice, said Jan Ballman, CEO of Paradigm Reporting & Captioning.
*Iowa. The judicial council is considering the change but has not set a time frame, said Steve Davis, spokesman for the Iowa Judicial Branch.
*New York. The Worker's Compensation Board is working on a pilot test to compare records produced by digital audio recording to those from court reporters, spokesman Brian Keegan said.
New Hampshire laid off all of its court reporters in 2005, said Laura Kiernan, state judicial branch communications director.
Alaska has used a recording system for more than 20 years, and Kentucky has exclusively used video recording since the 1980s, court officials in those states said.
Jim Cudahy, NCRA's senior director of marketing and communications, said the cost savings are largely perceived.
Although salaries...
Thu, 18 Mar 10
SAP's Leaders Pledge Speedier Product Innovation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72202
SAP Co-Chief Executives Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe have pledged to quicken the pace of product introductions and dealmaking at the German software company as they try to reverse the sales decline that led to the ouster of their predecessor, Leo Apotheker.
SAP (SAP), the world's largest maker of business applications software, is pushing a new engineering approach that is designed to get new products out the door faster, McDermott and Snabe told reporters and analysts on Mar. 15 at the company's campus in Palo Alto, Calif.
The first fruit of that approach will be a new version of the company's Business By Design Web software, a Web-delivered package of applications for small and midsized companies that McDermott said will arrive in July. The executives will also be "bolder" than their predecessors were in making acquisitions, he said.
"We're off to a very fast start," said McDermott, previously the company's head of North American sales. McDermott promised to "radically speed up" the pace of innovation at SAP. "We haven't stopped," McDermott says. "As you can see, we haven't slept either."
McDermott and Snabe replaced Apotheker on Feb. 7. Under Apotheker -- who served less than nine months in the top job -- and previous CEO Henning Kagermann, SAP had been criticized for moving too slowly to deliver new products, as well as for a lack of clarity about technology that would make SAP software more accessible via the Web and mobile devices.
SAP revenue fell 13%, to $14.88 billion, last year. Sales are expected to rise 1% in 2010, to $15 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. And while SAP stock gained 37% during the bull market of 2009, the shares lagged a 52% surge in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. SAP shares...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
BlackBerry Users Casting Glances at iPhone, Android
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72216
Research In Motion may find that many of its customers are in motion, a survey of more than 1,000 smartphone users suggests. Asked about their next smartphone purchase, 39 percent of 159 RIM BlackBerry users told Crowd Science, an online research firm, that they "definitely or probably" want an Apple iPhone.
Another 34 percent said they would prefer a phone that uses Google's Android operating system. Combined with 38 percent who said they might consider Android, that makes a 72 percent opening for Android, narrowly beating the 68 percent opening for the iPhone.
Asked if they would switch from their present handset to Google's Nexus One, which debuted in January, 32 percent of BlackBerry users said they would, compared to just nine percent of iPhone users. The poll did not ask users about Palm or Windows Mobile phones.
"These results show that the restlessness of BlackBerry users with their current brand hasn't just been driven by the allure of iPhone," said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science, in a blog post. "Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn't garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems."
The largest share of BlackBerry users, however, 49 percent, chose the category "other smartphone," which could include another BlackBerry. (Because participants were allowed multiple selections, totals for each device add up to more than 100 percent.)
The poll did not allow BlackBerry users to directly express satisfaction with their current model, which led Current Analysis consumer-devices research expert Avi Greengart to question its reliability.
"The survey doesn't ask BlackBerry owners if they would buy another BlackBerry, so its results are meaningless," said Greengart. "If you ask 'Which of the following things would you buy' and not include 'What you already have,' you will get, by design, high responses for whatever you present...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Microsoft Encourages Developers To Test Drive IE9
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72215
Microsoft has invited developers to test-drive Internet Explorer 9. The software behemoth on Tuesday released an early version of its new browser to developers during the MIX10 event in Las Vegas.
With more competition from other browsers, including Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, Opera and Mozilla's Firefox, Microsoft wants to make sure its browser remains on top. The first build of IE9 is a look at what the company has done.
In this first build, Microsoft has included GPU-powered HTML5 features and support along with built-in developer tools. XML formats for scalable vector graphics (SVG) have been included despite Microsoft's preference for its own Silverlight plug-in. Several familiar features, such as the address bar and InPrivate browsing, have been excluded from the test version of IE9.
Developers were encouraged to test the browser and evaluate updates in the code every eight weeks until the beta release of IE9. People can test the browser by accessing its platform preview, according to Microsoft. The company has also created a test-drive web site to allow users to view a set of web pages and applications with IE9's new features and enhancements.
"We want the developer community to have an earlier hands-on experience with the progress we're making on the IE platform," said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, in a blog post. "The platform preview, and the feedback loop it is a part of, makes a major change from previous IE releases."
The core technologies Hachamovitch is asking for feedback on are HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets 3 (CSS3), Document Object Model (DOM), and SVG.
Developers have wasted no time getting behind the driver's seat of the early version of IE9. And several have already started offering feedback.
The preview scored 578 out of 578 on the CSS3 selectors test, according to one published report.
One question on...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Dell Sues To Recover LCD Overcharges from Asian Cartel
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72214
Dell is accusing five Japanese and Taiwanese companies of price-fixing on LCD panels. The computer maker filed suit Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, Seiko Epson, and HannStar.
In its 61-page complaint, Dell said it filed suit "on behalf of itself and its affiliates to recover for antitrust and other harms arising from billions of dollars of purchases at artificially inflated prices, over several years, of thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display panels, or products containing TFT-LCD panels."
Dell alleges the companies formed a cartel to artificially inflate the prices on components Dell has been purchasing from them since 1996. Dell claims it has suffered, but didn't specify damages.
None of the companies named in the suit has issued an official comment. However, some of the brands have been down this road before. Sharp agreed to pay a $120 million fine for price-fixing in April 2001 and December 2006, the Dell lawsuit says. Hitachi also agreed to pay $31 million for the same offense.
Considering that Dell purchased billions of dollars worth of LCD screens over the past five years as LCDs became the display of choice for most desktop and virtually all laptop computers, it makes sense for the company to attempt to recover the money it thinks it was overcharged, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
Since the U.S. government has already pursued and received fines from two of the companies, King isn't surprised that Dell is pursuing legal action -- and he said other vendors could soon line up to recover the financial damages they claim to have suffered at the hands of the cartel.
"If you look at past suits where an admission of guilt has resulted in injuries to third parties, it does create a dynamic that leads to additional suits," King...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Internet Dot-Com Addresses Began 25 Years Ago
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72213
It's not only Julius Caesar who should take note of the Ides of March. So should every business with a dot-com address, since that was the date of the first dot-com address -- 25 years ago Monday.
On that date in 1985, a Cambridge, Mass., company named Symbolics became the first to register a dot-com domain. But the Internet at that time was still primarily a network devoted to research and academic use, and Symbolics' move didn't exactly start a land rush. By the end of the year, only five other companies had dot-com addresses, and it was nearly two years before there were a hundred.
Flash forward to 1997, just as the Internet was beginning its phenomenal rise, when one million dot-coms had been registered. Today, there are about 80 million dot-com sites.
Now with the Federal Communications Commission on the verge of declaring the broadband Internet as the main communications medium for the United States -- surpassing even telephone and broadcast TV -- dot-com sites seem to be as commonplace as street addresses.
In fact, according to news reports, these days more than 660,000 dot-coms are registered every month. Symbolics may have been the first, but today even pizza parlors have dot-com addresses.
According to a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, dot-coms now account for about $400 billion in annual economic activity, and that will likely grow to about $950 billion in annual revenue by 2020.
And online advertising is on the verge of surpassing print-based ads this year. A survey of 1,000 advertisers by the research firm Outsell projected online ad spending this year at $120 billion, compared to about $111 billion for print-based ads in newspapers and magazines.
As the Internet continues its growth, key organizations are gearing up for the next generation. VeriSign, a...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Microsoft Will Rule on Phone 7 Apps, Require Trials
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72210
Microsoft isn't going to let Apple have all the app-store fun. On Monday, the software giant announced more details about Windows Phone 7 Series applications in its online store as it moves to get third-party developers excited about the new platform.
The announcement, made at the MIX10 developers' conference in Las Vegas, didn't specify which apps will be offered for the successor to the current Windows Mobile operating system, or the price ranges. But the company said its Silverlight multimedia technology, a competitor to Adobe Systems' Flash and AIR technologies, will be the basis for "rich Internet application" development. Flash, ubiquitous on the web, is supported on a wide variety of mobile devices -- with the notable exception being Apple's iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft also said Windows Phone 7 supports XNA programming tools for game development. A software development kit for Phone 7 application development was released last week.
While virtually all mobile platforms now have app stores, Microsoft is taking a few cues from Apple. For instance, the company said all Phone 7 apps in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile store must be approved first by Microsoft, as Apple requires for its App Store.
However, Microsoft has told news media it will make decisions about applications more expeditiously than Apple, which should please developers. It also said that trial versions of applications will be required, so customers can try before buying.
The Windows Phone 7 Series platform was unveiled in mid-February at the World Mobile Congress. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made the presentation, which the company touted as bringing together for the first time Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone. Devices based on the platform are expected to be on the market by the Christmas holiday season.
Microsoft has...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
FCC Seeks More Fast Lanes To the Internet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72203
Federal regulators have unveiled an ambitious plan to bring high-speed Internet service to millions of Americans who can't get it today, while boosting delivery speeds and lowering prices for 200 million current subscribers.
The Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan also aims to leverage broadband to transform nearly every aspect of U.S. society and industry, including health care, education and energy. The FCC will deliver the sweeping blueprint to Congress today.
It's "a 21st-century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens and engage in our democracy," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says.
Parts of the plan, which could cost up to $20 billion, will likely face backlash from industry or in Congress. Providers fear new costs and regulations.
Genachowski says the USA ranks as low as 15th in the world in broadband adoption, threatening "America's global competitiveness."
About 95 percent of U.S. households have access to broadband, leaving 14 million largely rural Americans with no onramp. Yet just 65 percent of Americans have subscribed. That means about 86 million people don't have service because they can't afford it, lack the skills or for other reasons.
The plan aims to:
*Connect 100 million households to affordable, 100 megabits-per-second service in the next 10 years. Such speeds would permit high-definition videoconferencing and medical diagnostics.
The FCC wants to remove regulatory obstacles providers face to connect to poles, rooftops and rights-of-way and encourage them to open parts of their networks to competitors.
*Boost adoption from 65 percent to 90 percent through training in communities and other steps.
*Deliver broadband to residents in rural areas and low-income households. The FCC plans to shift up to $15.5 billion from the Universal Service Fund -- which supports phone services for poor and rural customers -- to broadband.
*Widen the reach of mobile broadband. Third-generation broadband is available in 60 percent...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Low-Power Xeon 5600 Boosts Servers, Workstations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72194
Intel rolled out a new range of Xeon processor chips Tuesday that are based on the chipmaker's 32nm logic technology featuring second-generation high-k metal gate transistors. Called the Intel Xeon Processor 5600 series, the new server and workstation devices promise to decrease energy consumption in data-center applications even as they boost processing speeds.
Xeon 5600 processors also deliver two new security features for faster encryption and decryption. When deployed in virtualized environments, they provide data centers with a stronger foundation for cloud security, said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group.
"The Intel Xeon Processor 5600 series will be the backbone of mainstream computing environments," Skaugen said. They are designed to foster productivity and efficiency for a broad range of applications -- "from data transactions to workstations performing medical imaging and digital prototyping," he added.
The Xeon 5600 chips, which come in four-core and six-core versions, deliver up to 60 percent greater performance than Intel's earlier 45nm Xeon 5500 series. As a result, data centers will be able to replace 15 single-core servers with one new server and achieve a return on their investment in as little as five months, Intel said.
"With a CPU upgrade to the new Intel Xeon processor 5600 series, the accelerated version of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer achieved a 1.64x improvement in query throughput," said SAP Vice President Roland Kurz. "It would take us many person-years to optimize our software stack to achieve the same performance gain."
For security, the Xeon 5600 chips include Intel AES-NI -- a set of instructions for accelerating the performance of systems running the Advanced Encryption Standard adopted by the U.S. government. "This faster, more robust encryption will benefit a broad range of Oracle solutions, including Oracle Database, and our customers can now secure data better without...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Twitter Will Stream Tweets Across Popular Web Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72193
In a move to broaden its reach across the Internet, Twitter on Monday announced a new feature that lets users send and receive 140-character messages while surfing the web. Dubbed @anywhere, Twitter's latest service gives sites like Amazon.com, AdAge, Bing, Citysearch, eBay, The Huffington Post, Meebo, MSNBC, The New York Times, Yahoo and YouTube the ability to stream the millions of daily tweets Twitter users send every day.
Evan Williams, CEO and cofounder of Twitter, announced the feature at a presentation at the South by Southwest interactive festival in Austin, Texas. Many observers reportedly expected Twitter to announce a new advertising platform, but instead were greeted with news about something that resembles Facebook Connect.
"This is Twitter's version of Facebook Connect. Not literally, but it's a comparable way to extend and distribute Twitter throughout the Internet and piggyback on the traffic of a range of sites," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "Twitter has become very popular, but it has a core base of active users. This could potentially dramatically expand and further popularize the service."
In a blog post announcing @anywhere, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone explained how he and Williams designed Twitter with an approach that didn't require a relationship model like a social network.
"Keeping things open meant you could browse our site to read tweets from friends, celebrities, companies, media outlets, fictional characters, and more. You could follow any account and be followed by any account," Stone said. "As a result, companies started interacting with customers, celebrities connected with fans, governments became more transparent, and people started discovering and sharing information in a new, participatory manner."
Stone explained that Twitter has developed a new set of frameworks for adding the Twitter experience anywhere on the web. Soon, Stone promised, sites will be able to re-create open...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Dubious Honor Bestowed on Federal CIOs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72182
As the Justice Department hunts for the latest batch of missing federal e-mails, the officials who oversee spending of $71 billion a year for information technology got a big raspberry Friday for a 14-year-long failure to ensure that government e-mails are preserved.
For all the spending it oversees, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council is virtually unknown to the general public. Now it has "won" this year's Rosemary Award for the worst open government performance.
The Rosemary is bestowed by the National Security Archive, a private group that publishes declassifed government information and files lawsuits and many Freedom of Information Act requests for federal records. The award is named for former President Richard M. Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods, known for re-enacting her claim to have accidentally erased 18 1/2 minutes of a White House tape recording when she stretched to answer a phone.
Comprised of the chief information officials from 28 departments and agencies, the council was established by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and written into law by Congress in 2002. It describes itself as the "principle interagency forum for improving practices in the design, modernization, use, operation, sharing, and performance of federal government information resources."
The archive, however, said neither the council's founding documents, its 2007-2009 strategic plan, its transition memo for the Obama administration, nor its current Web site even mention the challenge of managing e-mail records.
"The CIO Council has a bad case of attention deficit disorder when it comes to the e-mail disaster in the federal government," said archive director Tom Blanton, author of a book on an e-mail lawsuit against the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. "We hope this year's Rosemary Award will serve as a wake up call to the government officials who have the power, the money and the responsibility to save the e-mail sent in...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Facebook To Open Support Center in India
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72179
Social networking site Facebook is opening an operations office in India, its first in Asia, to help manage rapid growth in the number of users.
The office, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, will have advertising and developer support teams, the company said Monday. It will supplement Facebook's other centers in Palo Alto, California; Dublin, Ireland; and Austin, Texas.
The move is part of a push to create support centers across time zones, with round-the-clock, multilingual support, the company said.
The number of Facebook users has rocketed to over 400 million since it was founded in 2004.
Seventy percent of users are now outside the U.S. and use the site in over 70 languages, Don Faul, director of global online operations, said in his blog Monday.
"In India alone, we've seen rapid growth and now have more than 8 million people there actively connecting on Facebook," he said.
Faul's posting generated dozens of comments, with users from Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Africa asking whether Facebook might soon open offices in their countries too.
"When are you coming to Nigeria? There's much potential here and we've exceeded the one million mark!" wrote Segun Segebee Abisagbo.
One woman asked for a job.
According to its Web site, Facebook is hiring in the U.S., Italy, Spain, Australia, Ireland, England, France, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Canada, as well as India.
The company did not release details of the size of investment or how many people if will hire for the India office.
Hyderabad is one of India's technology hubs and a base for Google, Microsoft and IBM, among others. All three companies are hiring there, according to their Web sites.
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Survey: Readers Reluctant To Pay for Online News
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72178
Getting people to pay for news online at this point would be "like trying to force butterflies back into their cocoons," a new consumer survey suggests.
That was one of several bleak headlines in the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual assessment of the state of the news industry, released Sunday.
The project's report contained an extensive look at habits of the estimated six in 10 Americans who say they get at least some news online during a typical day. On average, each person spends three minutes and four seconds per visit to a news site.
About 35 percent of online news consumers said they have a favorite site that they check each day. The others are essentially free agents, the project said. Even among those who have their favorites, only 19 percent said they would be willing to pay for news online -- including those who already do.
There's little brand loyalty: 82 percent of people with preferred news sites said they'd look elsewhere if their favorites start demanding payment.
"If we move to some pay system, that shift is going to have to surmount significant consumer resistance," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the project, part of the Pew Research Center.
Last year, online advertising saw its first decline since 2002, according to the research firm eMarketer. Four of five Americans surveyed told the project that they never or hardly ever click on ads.
Despite a lot of choices, traffic on news sites tends to be concentrated on the biggest -- Yahoo, MSNBC, CNN, AOL and The New York Times.
"There was this view that we're retreating into our own world of niche sites and that's not true," Rosenstiel said.
That offers a glimmer of hope for establishing a pay system if operators of the biggest sites could somehow agree on how to do it, he said. The...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
British Government Gets Tough on Piracy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72172
When asked how governments ought to deal with freeloaders who illegally copy music and movies on the Internet, James Murdoch, head of News Corp.'s European and Asian operations, does not mince his words: "Punish them."
"There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff," he said last week at a media conference in Abu Dhabi. "We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball."
In Britain, where Mr. Murdoch is based, lawmakers have taken up the challenge -- to the consternation of Internet companies and civil liberties groups, which are ratcheting up their own arguments against a tough anti-piracy bill that is nearing the make-or-break stage in Parliament.
The measure, championed by the business secretary, Peter Mandelson, would give the British authorities new tools to clamp down on piracy, including the right to cut off the Internet connections of persistent copyright cheats. Such a system has been approved, though not yet implemented, in France.
The British proposal, set to be taken up by the House of Commons on Monday, goes further. Under an amendment to the bill in the House of Lords this month, courts would be empowered to order Internet service providers to block access to Web sites that provide pirated movies, music and other media content.
Supporters of the amendment say it would finally give copyright holders the tools to tackle the piracy problem at the supply and demand levels, after more than a decade of largely futile efforts.
But critics of the bill say it raises the specter of censorship on the Internet, and could undermine the development of Britain's digital economy, currently among the most advanced in the world.
"Put simply, blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the Internet in the U.K. and elsewhere, threatening freedom...
Wed, 17 Mar 10
Dealing with Annoying Windows 7 Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72171
Sure, Windows 7 has garnered plenty of accolades since its release. But that doesn't mean that people haven't been annoyed at some of its new or unexpected behavior. The good news is that most of what ails Windows 7 can be remedied with a little know-how or an add-on program here or there. Read on to find out more.
Q: Where is Windows Movie Maker in Windows 7? I relied on this program in Windows Vista.
A: Movie Maker, Mail, and other applications that were easy to find in previous versions of Windows must now be downloaded and installed as part of Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com). Live Essentials also includes Writer, Photo Gallery, Family Safety, and a Toolbar.
Be careful: if you don't want to install all of those applications, uncheck the ones you're not interested in when you run the Windows Live Setup application.
Also, once you do install the Movie Maker application for Windows 7, you'll note that the interface is significantly different from the older version of Movie Maker. If you prefer the older version (2.6), you can download it from Microsoft (http://bit.ly/iDgDZ).
Q: I moved to Windows 7 from Windows XP, and I miss XP's Start menu. Can I get back the classic look and feel of the XP Start menu?
A: While many come to appreciate the changes in the Windows Vista/7 Start menu -- including instant search -- it's true that the new Start menu does away entirely with some of the capabilities of the old XP Start menu, such as the ability to nest folders.
There's no way within Windows 7 itself to reconfigure the Start menu to look and act exactly like XP's Start menu. But you can download the freeware application CSMenu (http://www.csmenu.com), which transforms your Start menu into almost exactly what you're used to seeing from the...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Intel Boosts PC Speed with New $125 Solid-State Drive
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72192
Booting up PCs will be faster with Intel's new 40GB solid-state drive (SSD), the company said Monday. Intel has begun shipping the Intel X25-V Value SATA SSD.
Used in dual-drive notebook configurations or added to a desktop with an existing hard drive, the X25-V can contain the operating system and the user's favorite applications to make startup faster.
Considered a game-changing technology to replace hard drives, SSDs have been replacing traditional magnetic hard drives after they proved to be faster, more reliable, and more energy efficient.
Intel said the performance of its new SSD is nearly four times faster than a 7200 RPM hard drive.
"For partners and customers, this means that they experience the performance benefits of solid-state drives at an affordable entry-level price," said Debra Paquin, an Intel spokesperson. "Using an Intel X25-V Value SSD as a boot drive in a desktop means they will experience 43 percent faster system responsiveness, with faster startups or boots, quicker opening of applications, wake up from standby, and shutdowns."
Newer SSDs are being marketed to a specific segment of notebook users who want to increase speed without hurting their wallets. Intel's X25-V is priced at $125 and will be marketed for both notebooks and dual-drive desktops.
Gamers will see the biggest increase in performance, with an 86 percent jump in the gaming experience.
Along with faster speeds, the SATA SSD also includes Native Command Queuing technology, which enables users to have up to 32 concurrent operations. It also has 34nm NAND flash memory, which is one of the reasons for the change in density and price.
When SSDs first hit the market in 2008, they were in 32GB and 64GB versions. In 2009, the price dropped and the market saw 128GB and 56GB models.
"Now, however, people are holding off and waiting for prices to...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
@Anywhere Puts Twitter Streams On Big Media Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72191
Twitter works great for the "twitterati," but in many ways it has failed to penetrate the mainstream web. For many people who aren't attached to their phones 24/7 or aren't multitasking between work and a stream of micro-thoughts of questionable depth, Twitter is a buzzword, something the media loves to chatter about but signifying nothing.
So on Monday, Twitter took a step toward the mainstream as CEO Evan Williams announced the @Anywhere platform, which will pull Twitter feeds into media web sites. He announced the new system at the start of an on-stage dialogue with Umair Haque, director of the Havas Media Lab. After that announcement, most of the audience seemed to find the conversation boring as attendees streamed out during their talk.
Williams showed a quick demonstration of @Anywhere with web sites showing "hovercards." Mousing over these brings up some Twitter posts and a way to link to a user's Twitter account. Other possibilities are linking to an author's Twitter feed by clicking on a byline.
@Anywhere is launching with 13 big-name partners, including Digg, The New York Times, MSnbc.com, eBay, Amazon.com and Microsoft's Bing search engine. The idea is to find ways to discover good content on Twitter that users will want to subscribe to.
"Discovery is one of the hardest challenges," Williams said. "It's putting these in context where you're already aware of them ... Twitter is a very easy way to keep in touch."
A company blog post pointed out that Twitter has fewer constraints than social networks like Facebook. "When we designed Twitter, we took a different approach -- we didn't require a relationship model like that of a social network," it said.
"You could follow any account and be followed by any account. As a result, companies started interacting with customers, celebrities connected with fans, governments became...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Google Expected To Pull Plug on China Operations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72190
In an international Internet drama, Google seems closer to ending operations in China after threatening two months ago to pull out of the market. Google's Chinese-language search engine is the only major foreign competitor in the communist nation.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the situation said Google is likely to take action within weeks. Meanwhile, Chinese government officials told state news outlets that Google's Chinese site is likely to close, and that if Google exits, those news outlets are required to publish only government accounts.
"Assuming all of these reports are correct, I think Google will stop having an accessible search engine from the Chinese side," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "I think there will be workarounds and ways to get it to the site, assuming they keep the Chinese-language site and the index, which they probably will in anticipation of some future reentry into the market."
According to Analysis International, Google has about 36 percent of China's search revenue. Chinese competitor Baidu holds 58 percent of the market. At 400 million users, China has the world's largest Internet population -- and it's growing. China adds an estimated 250,000 new Internet users every day. To Google, it seems a matter of principle.
"If Google found a way to just capitulate to the Chinese censorship requirements after having taken this bold stand against censorship, it would have been a (public relations) problem for Google," Sterling said. "Google is right to follow through with its threat if China is not going to make some changes, and there has been no indication from day one that China will do anything differently."
Sterling said Google won't be compelled to give up the Google.cn name or index. He expects Google to maintain the site, and he expects China to...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
FCC Prepares To Outline National Broadband Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72189
In what could be the final deathblow to dial-up connections, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday will outline to Congress how it will spend $7.2 billion in stimulus funds to provide high-speed broadband Internet access to millions of Americans.
The FCC, under Chairman Julius Genachowski, has spent a year working on a plan that would reallocate up to 500 megahertz of the radio frequency spectrum through voluntary auction. That would add more broadband Internet via airwaves instead of cables and give users a 100-Mbps connection with one Gbps for schools, hospitals, government agencies, and public-safety agencies. The new wide area networks (WANs) would target users who can't afford current broadband rates or who live in dead zones.
According to data from ABI Research, 30 percent of U.S. households now have Wi-Fi local area networks (LANs) in their homes. "Once the WAN connection is in place through the FCC plan, there will likely be an increase in LAN distribution -- routers and access points -- to connect Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the network," said ABI researcher Jeff Orr.
"The national broadband plan is a 21st-century road map to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens, and engage in our democracy," Genachowski said. "It's an action plan, and action is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues."
According to published reports, part of the FCC plan is to subsidize Internet providers to extend WANs into rural areas and develop a single device that will integrate Internet and cable-TV programming.
The FCC says broadband Internet subscription in the United States has soared from eight million in 2002 to more than 200 million homes, and it hopes to reach another 100 million to bring the country closer...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Windows Phone 7 Development Uses Familiar Skills
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72187
Microsoft showed off its Windows Phone 7 Series development platform Monday at the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas. Among other things, the new platform promises to give developers and designers the ability to use established technologies such as Silverlight and the XNA Framework to build new mobile apps as well as deliver compelling user experiences across a broad set of devices, according to Microsoft Vice President Scott Guthrie.
"As the browser, server, web and devices evolve, a focus on delivering consistently great user experiences has become paramount," Guthrie said. "By extending our familiar platform technologies and tools to phones, Microsoft is delivering the premier application development experience across a variety of devices and form factors."
During the MIX10 keynote Monday, Microsoft demoed a new design and development work-flow tool that promises to streamline the creation process dramatically. Called Expression Blend 4 Beta, the tool incorporates a visual layout mechanism that in many instances will eliminate the need for writing code.
The software giant also unveiled the release candidate for its next-generation Silverlight 4 platform, which is available for immediate download, together with a comprehensive package of free tools for the Windows Phone 7 Series platform. The package includes Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows 7 Phone, a Windows Phone 7 Series add-in for use with Visual Studio 2010 RC1, and a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing.
"We gave these tools out to a handful of partners about three weeks ago to see what they could build," Guthrie told MIX10 attendees. "We are amazed as some of the apps that came back."
For example, Vertigo Software CEO Scott Stanfield showed off a new media app that will enable consumers to stream Netflix movies to their Windows 7 phones. "There's a music and video hub that I can...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Apple Chief Operating Officer Gets $5 Million Bonus
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72183
Apple Inc. is giving its chief operating officer a $5 million bonus for "outstanding performance" running the company while CEO Steve Jobs was on medical leave.
Timothy Cook, 49, will also receive 75,000 restricted stock units scheduled to vest in 2011 and 2012, Apple said in a regulatory filing Friday.
Jobs, 55, famously limits his salary to $1 per year, which leaves Cook the company's highest-paid executive. In 2009, Cook received an $800,400 salary; $800,000 in nonstock incentive compensation; and about $40,900 in company matches to his retirement account, life insurance premiums and cash for unused vacation days.
The COO also holds 13,741 shares of Apple stock and 500,000 additional restricted stock options that have not yet vested, according to a January filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cook took the company reins when Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, went on medical leave from January through June 2009.
It was Cook's second stint leading Apple. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, ran the Cupertino, Calif.-based company for two months in 2004 while Jobs recovered from surgery for pancreatic cancer. His performance then won him the promotion to chief operating officer in 2005.
Analysts credit Cook with solving problems that Apple was having with inventory management. That has been key to Apple's ability to amass $25 billion in cash and short-term investments. Many people consider Cook as Jobs' logical successor.
In the months leading up to Jobs' medical leave, rumors about his health could send Apple's stock soaring and sinking as investors worried that Apple would be lost without his vision.
But under Cook's direction in 2009, the company kept cranking out well-received products including updated laptops with lower entry-level prices and a faster iPhone with many longed-for features. Apple sold more than a million of the new iPhone 3GS during its first three days on the market.
Investors...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
AT&T Extends Data To Lower-Cost Feature Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72168
AT&T's lower-end feature phones are becoming smarter. On Monday, the carrier announced it will offer "smartphone-like experiences" on four of its new, less-expensive models.
The new phones, part of the company's Quick Messaging Devices lineup, will be among the first at AT&T to receive the new suite of consumer data services as the company tries to add value to its lower end by making its data services as valuable, or more so, than the phones themselves.
"Quick Messaging Devices are among our most popular and fastest-growing phones," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. These phones, he added, will now offer "cutting-edge services that enhance" the overall user experience.
The first new phone to offer these services is the Samsung Strive, which is $19.99 with a two-year contract, and it will be followed by the Samsung Sunburst, Pantech Link, and Pantech Pursuit. The services include an online address book, next-generation messaging, and sharing of photos and videos.
The online address book enables users to automatically sync contacts between a handset and a PC. Contacts from other web-based address books, like e-mail accounts, can be imported and, since the address book lives in the cloud, the information is always backed up.
With next-generation messaging, users have the ability to send a text message to a group. They also get a threaded-conversations format, a consolidated inbox, and multimedia display, such as putting photos into messages.
Using mobile share, customers can use their handset to share videos and photos between their home computer, social-networking sites, friends and personal online storage. The online address book and advanced messaging are free, while mobile share requires a monthly or per-use fee.
A key value of the cloud-based services is that the user's personal content isn't lost, even if the phone is. For...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
If iPad Battery Fails, Apple Will Replace the iPad for $99
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72167
When your iPod battery dies, it's time to get a new iPod. Never a popular strategy for Apple, the company is moving to avoid the backlash of potential battery failures with its self-described "magical" tablet device.
Apple has issued what appears to be a guarantee replacement policy that could help it instill consumer confidence in the pricey iPad. If the iPad's battery doesn't last as long as the device itself, Apple will send you a new device. So instead of replacing the failing battery, Apple will replace the iPad itself.
"Apple has been criticized for the idea of using sealed batteries in devices. Although it's been a nonissue for most consumers, this guarantee streamlines the customer-service process for the consumer," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "If you buy an iPad and have a problem with the battery and need it replaced, you don't have to think twice about what to do. You just take it to your Apple Store and you get another one."
In an unusual move for the consumer electronics industry, a support bulletin posted on Apple's web site clearly reads: "If your iPad requires service due to the battery's diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee."
According to the bulletin, the cost is $99. However, Apple does give itself significant leeway in determining who is responsible for iPad replacements. This caveat could give Apple the power to deny iPad replacements. Apple also didn't specify whether it would offer brand-new iPads as replacements or refurbished models.
"Your iPad is not eligible for battery replacement service if the product has been damaged, for example, as a result of an accident, liquid contact, disassembly, unauthorized service, or unauthorized modifications, or if the product is not operating correctly as a result...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Online Censorship Is Getting Craftier
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72160
Repressive regimes have stepped up efforts to censor the Internet and jail dissidents, Reporters Without Borders said in a study out Thursday.
China, Iran and Tunisia, which are on the group's "Enemies of the Internet" list, got more sophisticated at censorship and overcoming dissidents' attempts to communicate online, said Reporters Without Borders' Washington director, Clothilde Le Coz.
Meanwhile, Turkey and Russia found themselves on the group's "Under Surveillance" list of nations in danger of making the main enemies list.
Although Zimbabwe and Yemen dropped from the surveillance list, that was primarily because the Internet isn't used much in either country, rather than because of changes by the governments, Le Coz said.
Reporters Without Borders issued the third annual report ahead of Friday's World Day Against Cyber Censorship, an awareness campaign organized by the Paris-based group.
Le Coz said repressive regimes seemed to be winning a technological tussle with dissidents who try to circumvent online restrictions. She said some U.S. technology companies have been aiding the regimes by selling equipment and filtering software that could be used for such censorship.
One sign of hope: Google Inc.'s public threats to leave China if the Silicon Valley powerhouse cannot reach a deal that lets the company offer search results there free of censorship.
"A year from now, I would be happy to tell you that Google opened the path," Le Coz said. "That's a bit idealistic."
In fact, she worries that more democratic nations would be joining the list.
Australia is among the countries under the group's surveillance for its efforts to require Internet service providers to block sites that the government deems inappropriate, including child pornography and instructions in crime or drug use. Critics are worried that the list of sites to be blocked and the reasons for doing so would be kept secret, opening the possibility that legitimate sites might...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
VeriSign Plans $300 Million Tech Overhaul
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72159
VeriSign Inc., whose technology is key to allowing Internet users to access Web sites with names ending in ".com" and ".net," plans to spend more than $300 million over the next decade to upgrade its systems.
The upgrades will allow VeriSign's machines to handle up to 4 quadrillion requests per day from computers trying to reach those sites. That's a thousand times more lookups than the 4 trillion per day that the company can currently handle.
Ken Silva, the company's chief technology officer, said Thursday that the latest changes are needed to keep up with ballooning Internet traffic and with spikes in usage caused by major news events and computer attacks.
Traffic volume is expected to soar along with the expansion of technologies such as Internet-connected televisions, navigation systems and video streaming.
VeriSign is in two big businesses that are critical to the functioning of the Internet but both remain largely out of the public's view.
The most recognizable business involves selling "certificates" that Web sites can use to tell Web browsers that they are using encryption to protect data passing between a user's computer and the Web site's servers. That's important for banking and e-commerce sites in protecting customers' data. VeriSign is one of several large vendors of such Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates.
VeriSign also operates the registry of all ".com" and ".net" domain names. That means it's responsible for ensuring that Internet users can reach sites registered with those names.
When someone enters a Web address into a browser, the traffic doesn't go directly to servers operated by that Web site. It often has to go through servers operated by VeriSign and other companies to translate the written name, such as verisign.com, into a numeric Internet Protocol, or IP, address that computers can understand.
The last major infrastructure upgrade VeriSign announced was in 2007, when...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Lenovo Plans Mobile-Internet Business Focus
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72156
Lenovo Group expects wireless Internet products to account for up to 80 percent of its sales within five years as it pursues expansion in faster-growing emerging markets, CEO Yang Yuanqing said Friday.
Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest personal computer maker, jumped into the mobile Internet market in January with the unveiling of a smart phone and two Web-linked portable computers.
"Mobile Internet is very important," Yang said in an interview. "Even today, notebook sales already are higher than desktops. Mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 percent of our sales ... within three to five years."
Yang said Lenovo plans this year to focus on promoting mobile Internet and sales in emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Lenovo, based in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, was hit hard by the global crisis, which prompted its core corporate customers to slash spending. It suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to a profit in the second half of last year.
Yang said Lenovo's longer-term strategy, dubbed "protect and attack," calls for building up its dominant presence in China. The country accounts for nearly half of Lenovo's global sales but it faces competition from industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which are creating products tailored to Chinese customers.
In the latest quarter, Lenovo said sales in India and other emerging markets rose 52 percent over a year earlier, far ahead of the 13 percent sales growth reported for the United States and Western Europe.
Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp.'s PC unit in 2005, says its global market share last year rose to 9 percent, its highest level to date.
Yang said Lenovo has no plans for foreign acquisitions but is ready to look at any deals that fit its strategic plans.
Corporate spending on computers has yet to rebound but companies are expected to step up...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Chinese Minister Insists Google Abide By the Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72153
China's top Internet regulator insisted Friday that Google must obey its laws or "pay the consequences," giving no sign of a possible compromise in their dispute over censorship and hacking.
"If you want to do something that disobeys Chinese law and regulations, you are unfriendly, you are irresponsible and you will have to pay the consequences," Li Yizhong, the minister of Industry and Information Technology, said on the sidelines of China's annual legislature.
Li gave no details of Beijing's talks with Google Inc. over the search engine's January announcement that it planned to stop complying with Chinese Internet censorship rules and might close its China-based site.
"Whether they leave or not is up to them," Li said. "But if they leave, China's Internet market is still going to develop."
China has the world's most populous Internet market, with 384 million people online. Google has about 35 percent of the Chinese search market, compared with about 60 percent for local rival Baidu Inc. Chinese users of Google and even some of China's state-controlled media have warned that the loss of a major competitor could slow the industry's development.
Beijing encourages Internet use for education and business but tries to block access to material deemed subversive or pornographic, including Web sites abroad run by human rights and pro-democracy activists.
Li insisted the government needs to censor Internet content to protect the rights of the country and its people.
"If there is information that harms stability or the people, of course we will have to block it," he said.
Responding to Google's complaints of China-based hacking against its e-mail service and several dozen major companies, Li said the government opposes hacking.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that the company is in active negotiations with Beijing and expects some resolution in the dispute soon.
Speaking at a conference in the United Arab Emirates,...
Tue, 16 Mar 10
Unhappy Customers: Complaints To BBB Up 10 Percent
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72082
Complaints to the Better Business Bureau were up nearly 10 percent last year, with the banking industry seeing the biggest jump in unhappy customers.
Complaints about banks spiked 42 percent to 29,920 in 2009, according to the annual report released Monday by the BBB. That made banks the third most complained about industry, after cell phones and cable- and satellite-TV providers.
It was the second year in a row that the banking industry saw a big jump in complaints. Complaints about banks rose 15 percent in 2008.
"Trust in the financial sector is already extremely low and the dramatic increase in BBB complaints against banks reflects the growing discord between consumers and the industry," Stephen Cox, president and CEO of the nonprofit group, said in a release.
The BBB said it hasn't yet examined the specific nature of the complaints against banks.
Overall, complaints by consumers to the BBB rose 9.7 percent to 1 million. Complaints rose by 7 percent in 2008, and dropped by 3 percent in 2007.
The broader spike in complaints last year reflects the pressure consumers are feeling amid high unemployment and the downturn, Cox said.
Consumers can file complaints with their local Better Business Bureau online, via phone, or mail. The group then presents the complaint to the business, and asks if a resolution will be made.
Cell phone providers got the most complaints with 37,477, a 2.1 percent increase over 2008. The cable- and satellite-TV industry got 32,616 complaints, up 8.7 percent.
However, both industries also resolved a greater portion of the complaints against them. Cell phone companies resolved 97.4 percent of complaints, while the cable and satellite TV industry resolved 97.2 percent.
The resolution rate by banks dipped slightly to 95.2 percent.
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Intel Core i7 Extreme Boosts Portable Workstations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72166
Intel this week offered a preview of platforms using its Core i7 Extreme Edition processor. Although the company is aiming the processor heavily at the gaming market, analysts said there are also clear business applications for the processor.
Code-named Gulftown, the i7-980X Extreme Edition processor is the industry's first 32nm, six-core processor with 12 computing threads. Intel introduced the i7 family last September with its exclusive Turbo Boost technology and Hyper-Threading Technology.
Turbo Boost is built into the latest-generation Nehalem micro-architecture and automatically allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if the chip is operating below power, current and temperature specification limits. Hyper-Threading Technology, along with Turbo Boost, works to increase performance of both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.
"The Core i7 chip has a special sensor built into it. If it detects that an application that would benefit from high throughput is launched, it can actually boost the clock speed and throughput of the chip by about 10 to 15 percent," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "So if you've got a graphics application where you need an extra oomph, the Turbo Boost can give you that extra kick-start to get a little bit better performance."
This is a clear win on the gaming front, but King said it also shines in the portable workstation market. With a Core i7 chip featuring Turbo Boost, engineers can take their workstation on the road without losing speed or productivity. A second business application for the Core i7 is support for HDMI high-definition video output in notebooks. King pointed to Dell's Vostro 3000 laptops, announced last week, as a prime example.
"If you are an executive or high-end salesperson who's going out on calls, this gives you the ability to run sophisticated graphics applications, high-def video, and other kinds of...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
iPad Will Read Books Aloud, Support Open EPUB Format
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72165
Eager to be the first on your block with an iPad? Apple started taking orders for the tablets on Friday. Wi-Fi models running from $499 to $699 will be available on April 3; 3G models, costing $629 to $829, won't be available until late April.
Along with the advance orders, Apple released some details on what's expected to be a key app for the new device -- e-books. Promoting the iBooks feature of the iPad, Apple's web site explains, "iBooks works with VoiceOver, the screen reader in iPad, so it can read you the contents of any page. Even with all these extras, reading is so natural on iPad, the technology seems to disappear."
The site also promotes iBooks as a totally new reading experience. "Turn iPad to portrait to view a single page. Or view two pages at once by rotating to landscape. Change the text size. Even change the font. Touch and hold any word to look it up in the built-in dictionary or Wikipedia, or to search for it throughout the book and on the web," the site says.
And in a positive sign for open-source books, Apple announced the iPad will support the EPUB format for digital books -- even those that are not offered through Apple's e-commerce sites.
"The iBooks app uses the EPUB format -- the most popular open book format in the world," Apple's site says. "That makes it easy for publishers to create iBook versions of your favorite reads. And you can add free EPUB titles to iTunes and sync them to the iBooks app on your iPad."
EPUB features advanced presentation for digital books, including in-line raster and vector images, embedded metadata, digital-rights management support, and Cascading Style Sheets styling.
That support could go a long way to making the...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Geolocation Stars at South by Southwest
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72162
What's likely to be the hottest tech trend at this weekend's trendy South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, the powwow that has become a launch pad for the coolest, hippest new technology? Location, location, location.
The conference is shaping up to be a coming-out party for Foursquare, an application that lets people flag where they are -- and for the entire category of fledgling geo-location services. A bumper crop of services, notably Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt and Where.com, are being embraced by smartphone owners to socialize and play games.
Venture capitalists are pouring in money. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has invested $9.5 million in Booyah, maker of a location-based social-gaming iPhone app.
"This is the year of location (at the show)," says Booyah CEO Keith Lee. Last week, Twitter said it would supply developers with richer geo-location data. In January, review site Yelp added a check-in option to its iPhone app. About 5 percent of iPhone apps have location services. Facebook officials won't comment, but independent tech analyst Greg Sterling and others expect it to soon add location-sharing features.
The service with the most buzz is the year-old Foursquare, with just 500,000 users.
Foursquare players earn points by visiting restaurants, bars or museums in major cities. The payoffs range from special deals to Boy Scout-like badges and "mayorships," essentially bragging rights for hanging out at certain locations. "This isn't mainstream, but it's the talk of tech insiders," says Sterling.
To build buzz as Twitter did a few years ago, the services are using the show to reach the general public. Last year, Foursquare benefited from a marketing blitz in which it doled out special badges, digital mayorships and other goodies. This year, rival Gowalla is throwing a big party with Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong foundation, and it has a partnership with Chevrolet.
"All the early...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Microsoft Xbox 360 Leads Gaming Sales in February
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72152
Microsoft's Xbox 360 video-game console moved to the top of the U.S. market in February. The software giant's console had been number two behind the Nintendo Wii for nearly three years.
The popularity of the new BioShock 2 game may have been behind Microsoft's sales of 422,000 Xbox 360s in February, an eight percent increase from a year earlier, according to NPD Group. Nintendo sold 397,900 Wiis and Sony sold 360,100 PlayStation 3 consoles in February.
The BioShock 2 game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was released on Feb. 10 and sold 750,000 units. Of those, 75 percent, or 562,900, were for the Xbox 360.
"We're excited about the biggest February in Xbox 360 history," said Dennis Durkin, COO of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, in an e-mail. "We know consumers are hungry for our 2010 portfolio of exclusive blockbuster games, industry-leading online experiences over Xbox LIVE, and for the holiday release of Project Natal for Xbox 360."
While BioShock 2 has created a buzz among gamers, so have sensing controllers. Microsoft's Project Natal system will let Xbox players use body motions to control the game instead of pressing buttons or waving a controller.
Microsoft wasted no time in getting celebrities to praise Project Natal's potential. Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard called the technology "amazing"; former NFL quarterback Willie Gault said it was one of the "most realistic game experiences" he has had; and pro beach volleyball player Misty-May Treanor said it's great for someone who, like her, is in physical therapy.
This week, Sony revealed additional information about its own new motion-control sensor. Dubbed the PlayStation Move, Sony first provided details last June. The controller allows PS3 gamers to use an Eye web camera and a wand to detect motion.
The controller will be packaged as a starter kit...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Barnes & Noble Will Be on Apple's iPad, a nook Rival
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72151
With the e-book industry expected to explode into a multibillion-dollar business in the next three years, Barnes & Noble wants to open a new chapter in sales by making sure its products are available on Apple's iPad. The retail giant on Thursday confirmed reports that it is preparing an iPad application in time for the anticipated April 3 release.
"Designed specifically for the iPad, our new B&N eReader will give our customers access to more than one million e-books, magazines and newspapers in the Barnes & Noble e-bookstore, as well as the existing content in their Barnes & Noble [online] digital library," Barnes&Noble.com administrator Paul Hochman wrote on a company blog.
The app will allow customers who have already downloaded content to Barnes & Noble's nook e-reader to access the same material on the iPad, Hochman said.
While the iPad is a direct attack on the nook, which debuted over the holiday season, as well as Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader, the B&N eReader shows that Barnes & Noble is doing everything it can to adjust to the digital age as paper books sit longer on the shelves.
"Barnes & Noble is first and foremost a content retailer, not a gadget maker," said consumer-devices researcher Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "It is far more important for [the company] to ensure that when -- or if, as the case may be -- reading moves from the physical realm to digital that Barnes & Noble maintains its place in the distribution chain."
Greengart also predicted an iPad app for the Kindle, which is already available for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. The app, he noted, would have to be optimized for the iPad's higher screen resolution.
A ChangeWave survey last week found that 40 percent of the firm's research-network members who plan to buy an e-reader...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
New Google Feature Will Hunt for Products Nearby
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72150
You're standing on a street corner and remember that you need to pick up a video game for your sister's birthday. On your smartphone, you search Google and tap on the "in stock nearby" link next to the blue dots that show up for some of the search results. Google then shows you which local retailers have the game in stock.
That buying omniscience, where your mobile device can tell you whether what you want is nearby, was announced Thursday by the search giant.
The blue dots in the search results link to participating retailers, which currently include Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm. The "in stock nearby" link connects to the seller's page, where the retailer near you notes whether the given item is "in stock" or has "limited availability." The distance from your current location is also indicated if you have enabled My Location or manually specified your location.
Google also has forms online so other retailers can become part of the program.
The U.S.-based functionality is available for an iPhone, a Palm webOS phone, or any device using the Android mobile operating system. After going to Google.com, the user clicks on the "more" link, and then "shopping," or, alternatively, looks for "shopping results" in the search results. Mobile product search with local inventory was first shown in December by Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering.
Andrew Frank, a research director at Gartner, noted that local-inventory product search is "part of a trend" where new functionality is coming about because the technical feasibility of various pieces have come together.
In this case, GPS, inventory feeds, and powerful mobile devices are combining with cloud-based search services to allow a user to find the nearest product in stock.
This kind of...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
FCC Posts Tools To Measure Broadband Speeds
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72149
The Federal Communications Commission unveiled three digital tools Thursday that will enable consumers, businesses, schools and other organizations to test the real-world performance of their fixed and mobile broadband connections and help identify gaps in the nation's broadband coverage. The tools include downloadable applications for mobile devices based on Google's Android platform and Apple's iPhone OS.
With the launch of the testing apps, the commission's goal is to empower consumers, promote innovation and investment, and encourage competition by fostering transparency, noted FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
"The FCC's new digital tools will arm users with real-time information about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data about service across the country," Genachowski said. "By informing consumers about their broadband service quality, these tools help eliminate confusion and make the market work more effectively."
The fixed broadband test tool at broadband.gov measures connection speed and latency, and reports the results directly to users as well as the FCC. What's more, the commission has launched a broadband reporting tool that will enable Americans to submit the address of a "dead zone" where broadband connectivity is unavailable.
The mobile test tools for Android and iPhone OS devices are available from the Android Market and Apple's App Store. "In the future, the FCC anticipates making additional broadband testing applications available for consumer use and across different mobile platforms," noted broadband task force attorney-adviser Jordan Usdan in a blog.
All three offerings will help the commission gather data to analyze broadband performance and availability on a geographic basis, Usdan noted. To protect user privacy, the FCC said it will not release any personal information gathered by the new tools.
The FCC's national broadband plan, which is slated for release next week, will recommend ways in which Congress can help consumers understand the difference between...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
ICANN Reconsiders '.xxx' for Porn Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72139
A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a ".xxx" domain name as an online red-light district where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers.
Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites, though because its use would be voluntary, the ".xxx" suffix wouldn't keep such content entirely away from minors. Religious and other anti-porn groups worry that ".xxx" would legitimize porn sites, and the proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000.
But the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the allocation of Internet addresses globally, may revive ICM Registry LLC's bid yet again as ICANN meets this week in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Last month, responding to complaints from ICM, an outside panel questioned ICANN's grounds for the latest rejection in 2007. As a result, board members have been weighing the matter ahead of formal consideration of the ".xxx" bid on Friday, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom said in an interview.
Beckstrom said he was not able to give details of those discussions for legal reasons, and he could not say when ICANN may reach a decision.
Stuart Lawley, ICM's chief executive, said he has been the victim of a process that he considered far from open and nondiscriminatory.
ICM, which planned to charge $60 for a site to register a ".xxx" name, first proposed ".xxx" in 2000 as a way to help the online porn industry clean up its act. Those using the domain would have to abide by yet-to-be-written rules designed to bar such trickery as spamming and malicious scripts.
And parents could set up Internet software to automatically block any site ending in ".xxx," reducing the chances that minors and other Internet users would accidentally stumble on pornography online.
Given...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Palm Teeters in Crowded Smartphone Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72137
Last year, Palm thought it had all the pieces for a turnaround in the market it pioneered: A new CEO known for making the iPod a household name, a sleek new smart phone called the Pre and fresh, intuitive operating software.
Instead, the company is in danger of going the way of its 1990s Palm Pilot, making it the latest innovator to learn that great technology and an accomplished leader don't guarantee success.
Several analysts say Palm Inc. might not remain an independent phone maker for more than a year or two. It just could be too late to stop the momentum enjoyed by Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerrys -- not to mention a growing crop of phones running Google Inc.'s Android software.
Palm spokesman Derick Mains said the company had no comment.
Consumers have gravitated toward smart phones for their versatile features, such as Internet access and applications that can be downloaded. One out of six U.S. adults had a smart phone last year, according to Forrester Research.
But Palm -- a leader in the early days of handheld computing -- was slow to adapt. It began fighting back in earnest in January 2009 at the International Consumer Electronics Show. It unveiled the stylish touch-screen Pre and webOS, software that allows Palm phones to do something the iPhone can't -- run multiple apps simultaneously.
Ed Colligan, who was then Palm's CEO, said at the time that the new products somewhat marked a relaunching of Palm itself. But it hasn't gone as smoothly as Palm hoped.
Palm released the Pre last June, for use on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s wireless network, and followed it in November with a cheaper model, the Pixi. Verizon Wireless started selling upgraded models of these phones in January, and AT&T Inc. plans to offer webOS phones later this year.
Despite...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Huge 'Botnet' Amputated, But Criminals Reconnect
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72136
The sudden takedown of an Internet provider thought to be helping spread one of the most promiscuous pieces of malicious software out there appears to have cut off criminals from potentially millions of personal computers under their control.
But the victory was short-lived. Less than a day after a service known as "AS Troyak" was unplugged from the Internet, security researchers said Wednesday it apparently had found a way to get back online, and criminals were reconnecting with their unmoored machines.
The drama initially raised hopes of a sharp drop-off in fraud, because criminals could no longer communicate with many computers infected with a type of malware known as "ZeuS," which is mostly used to steal online banking usernames and passwords. Hundreds of criminal operations around the world use the malware.
It's unknown how many computers are infected with ZeuS, but it's estimated to be in the millions. Cisco Systems Inc. said as many as 25 percent of the world's ZeuS-infected machines were unplugged from the massive "botnet" overnight with the takedown of AS Troyak.
Botnets are networks of infected PCs that behave like criminals' remote-control robots. They steal identities en masse and are used to attack Web sites.
But instead of a slam-dunk victory, the incident wound up highlighting the whiplash pace at which criminals can resurrect their illicit businesses after what should have been a devastating setback.
RSA, the security division of EMC Corp., said dozens of malicious servers that criminals used to spread ZeuS were connected to the Internet by AS Troyak. The service inexplicably went dark Tuesday, severing the ties between criminals and ZeuS-infected machines under their control.
It's not publicly known who pulled the plug. It could have been law enforcement, security researchers, or even the criminals themselves if they decided to move their operations to other servers.
Shutting down malware operations is...
Sat, 13 Mar 10
Legal System Catches Up To Texting Jurors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72040
Enough with the tweets, the blogs, the Internet searches.
That's the message being communicated by courts across the country as jurors using their portable electronic devices continue to cause mistrials, overturned convictions and chaotic delays in court proceedings.
Last year a San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed 600 potential jurors after several acknowledged going online to research the criminal case before them.
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon challenged her misdemeanor embezzlement conviction after discovering five jurors "friended" one another on Facebook during the trial.
And a federal judge in Florida declared a mistrial after eight jurors admitted Web surfing about a drug case.
But the rules for jury service in state and federal courts alike are evolving to grapple with this 21st century issue. New jury instructions are being adopted and electronics are being banned from courtrooms.
In January, the federal court's top administrative office, the Judicial Conference of the United States, issued so-called "Twitter instructions" to every federal judge, which are designed to be read to jurors at the start of the trial and before deliberations.
"You may not use any electronic device or media" in connection with the case, the recommended federal instructions admonish. They also bar visits to "any Internet chat room, blog, or Web site such as Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter."
The guidelines were developed "to address the increasing incidence of juror use of such devices as cellular telephones or computers to conduct research on the Internet or communicate with others about cases," according to a memo to federal judges from the committee's chief, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson of Topeka, Kan.
"Such use," the judge noted, "has resulted in mistrials, exclusion of jurors, and imposition of fines."
While federal judges can ignore those guidelines, some state judges are not so free.
The Supreme Court in Michigan ordered judges there starting Sept. 1 to...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
New iPhone OS Rumored To Finally Allow Multitasking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72145
Version 4.0 of the operating system for Apple's iPhone, iPod touch, and the forthcoming iPad will represent a major overhaul of the software and will feature a "full-on solution" to one long-standing gripe about Apple's devices -- their inability to multitask.
At least that is the latest rumor making the rounds, as reported by the AppleInsider blog. The site attributes the report to "people with a proven track record" in predicting Apple's next moves.
AppleInsider's sources offered no details, however, on how the company will deliver multitasking without compromising battery life, efficient memory usage, and security.
Users will see a multitasking manager that "leverages interface technology" already bundled with the Mac OS X, according to AppleInsider. The site added that the operating system is still early in development and has a "way to go" before its ready for release.
The lack of full multitasking on the iPhone is not strictly a technology problem. The current iPhone 3.x software is a multitasking operating system, but Apple artificially restricts third-party applications from running in the background.
This is an intentional choice Apple made in version 2.x of the software as part of the security model. By cutting off apps when the user hits the hardware button or answers an incoming call, third-party apps cannot run in the background, which effectively eliminates much of the risk of viruses and spyware.
The downside is that users are irritated by the phone's behavior. For instance, users playing music via the Pandora music-streaming app, or listening to audio feeds of baseball games via the MLB.com app -- just the type of content that works best in the background -- cannot switch to games or productivity apps while listening to audio streams.
Other apps that users want to be able to run in the background are instant messaging programs (other...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Verizon Expects a 4G Smartphone Earlier Than Planned
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72144
Verizon Wireless hopes to debut its first 4G smartphone in the middle of next year, months earlier than planned, a company executive revealed Wednesday. The new handset will debut about three to six months after its Long-Term Evolution network launches, Verizon Wireless CTO Anthony Melone told The Wall Street Journal.
That timetable suggests Verizon sees 4G as a significant way to outpace its leading rival, AT&T.
"With AT&T's timetable for 2012 or 2013 and Verizon still on track for next year, that shows a pretty big head start for Big Red," said Ramon Llamas, mobile-devices senior analyst for IDC Research.
Verizon's LTE will be available to some 4G users via laptop cards before the phones debut, Melone told the Journal. Verizon has reportedly been testing 4G coverage in Boston and Seattle, and LTE is planed for 10 to 30 U.S. markets by the end of next year, an area that includes 100 million people.
In December, Verizon promised that LTE's capabilities "will be unmatched in the marketplace, allowing customers to do things never before possible in a wireless environment" with average data rates per user of five to 12 Mbps for download and two to five Mbps for upload.
That would top the existing 4G network operated by Sprint Nextel, which boasts of 2.4-Mbps downloads and 153-Kbps uploads.
"If you look at Verizon's position on LTE, they are not just planning for smartphones but for other consumer electronics devices," Llamas said. "The usual evolution of things is that when you come out with a faster network, you go to data cards first and then to mobile phones."
AT&T is moving more deliberately to the next generation. The company's CEO, Randall Stephenson, recently told a technology investors' conference, "We're not in a tremendous hurry on LTE," but will instead rely on current technology for...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
OnLive Plans On-Demand Streaming of Video Games
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72141
In a move to shake up the online gaming industry, OnLive has announced PC and Mac versions of its on-demand, instant-play games will roll out in June during the E3 2010 show. Here's the rub: Gamers don't have to buy a console, and they can get broadband speeds.
OnLive delivers games to HDTVs over an Internet connection via a small browser plug-in for PCs and OnLive's MicroConsole TV Adapter, which will roll out later this year. The company is billing its game service as a way to find, purchase or rent video games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
"The idea here is that you buy or rent the games and stream them. That's pretty challenging when it comes to gaming because you need very quick responses," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at the Altimeter Group. "OnLive is an interesting twist. The question is how it's going to work in real time over the network."
The OnLive service will cost $14.95 a month and give gamers access to a library of games. OnLive said it will also offer loyalty programs, such as multi-month pricing.
To kick-start the service, OnLive is offering to waive fees for the first three months for the first 25,000 gamers who sign up for a subscription. Full versions of the games will be available for purchase or rent during the introductory period.
OnLive said its service will offer features like gamer tags, user profiles, friends and chat, and hinted at exclusive content such as state-of-the-art 3-D graphics. The service will also offer free game demos; multiplayer games across PC, Mac and TV platforms; and Brag Clips video capture and posting. Finally, OnLive will introduce massive spectating, always-updated games, cloud-saved games, and the ability to pause and resume games from anywhere,...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
FTC Probing Google's Planned AdMob Acquisition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72140
U.S. regulators are reportedly digging deeper into Google's planned AdMob acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission is asking for sworn statements from the search giant's competitors and advertisers in what could signal plans to hold up the merger. The news comes as part of a wave of government scrutiny against the maturing company.
According to Bloomberg News, the FTC is seeking to learn whether Google's proposed purchase of the mobile-ad technology provider would lessen competition in the market for Internet advertising on mobile phones. The FTC couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Bloomberg didn't identify the names of two companies that said they were asked to sign statements for the probe. However, it's likely that the FTC spoke with companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Jumptap and Millenial Media, all of which have stakes in this growing space.
"We're continuing to talk with the FTC and provide the information that they've asked for, but we're not going to discuss the details of that process," a Google spokesperson said. "We're confident that they'll conclude that the rapidly growing mobile-advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes."
Google announced plans to acquire AdMob for $750 million in stock in November. Although the FTC is concerned that the acquisition would reduce competition, Google painted a win-win picture, predicting the acquisition would enhance the company's expertise and technology in mobile advertising and give advertisers and publishers more choice in the emerging mobile market.
Google is jockeying for position in a mobile market that is projected to be worth billions in just a few years. Jupiter Research issued a recent report, Mobile Advertising: Delivery Channels, Business Models & Forecasts, that predicts the mobile-advertising market will grow to $5.7 billion by 2014.
According to IDC, if the Google-AdMob merger is approved, it would create the mobile-advertising industry's largest company....
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Opera Mini 5 Released for Android-Powered Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72127
Opera Software launched an Android version of the company's Opera Mini 5 mobile browser Thursday that promises to significantly improve page loading and speed on compatible smartphones. The beta release continues the company's campaign to increase the visibility of its browser on a global basis.
Opera Mini 5 works in tandem with Opera's servers to compress web-page content up to 90 percent before the data is sent to mobile phones, noted Opera Vice President Dag Olav Norem. "Opera Mini will give Android users fast and cost-efficient access to their favorite web sites and services," he said.
Opera Mini 5 now includes popular browser features from the company's platform for desktop PCs and notebooks, such as speed dial, tabbed browsing, password management, and bookmarks. The goal is to enable the platform to deliver a desktop-like web-browsing experience on mobile handsets, the company said.
Tabbed browsing enables several web sites to be viewed at the same time while easily jumping from one to another, while the speed-dial feature provides one-click access to favorite web pages. Additionally, bookmarks and speed-dial settings can now be synchronized between the user's mobile phone and a notebook or desktop PC.
To eliminate the need for horizontal panning on small mobile screens, the browser's mobile view intelligently reformats web pages into a single column. Users also can switch to a landscape mode to view a wider swath of web-page content.
The default size of text from selected web sites can be optimized from within the browser to make it even easier to view content on small screens. Moreover, users can adjust the default zoom level from 60 percent to 200 percent.
Additionally, Android users equipped with touchscreen handsets will be able to navigate content using the mobile platform's new zooming and kinetic scrolling features. And favorite web sites can now...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Sony Targets Nintendo's Wii with PS3 Move Controller
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72126
Move over, Wii. On Wednesday, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that its PlayStation 3 Move motion-based controller will launch in the fall. The controller has been discussed by Sony for some time, and was initially expected to be released this spring.
Reportedly, the delay gives third-party developers more time to create game titles using Move's capabilities. Sony said 36 developers and publishers are supporting the platform, and it expects more than 20 Move-related games to be released in its 2010 fiscal year.
The success of Nintendo's Wii video-game console has been built, in part, on its unique motion-sensing controller, allowing multiple players to bowl, wield a tennis racket, and other interactions. Sony is touting its new controller as "offering a motion-based, high-definition gaming experience unlike anything on the market."
Accompanying Move's launch will be the Move sub-controller, which enables what Sony described as "intuitive navigation of in-game characters and objects," and the Eye camera to detect precise movement, angle and position.
Sony said the three components provide a level of accuracy that, by implication, Nintendo's Wii does not. The controller has a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, a terrestrial magnetic field sensor, and a color-changing sphere that the camera can track. More than one blogger has described the device as looking like a toy flashlight with a colored ball on top.
The company said this "unmatched" resolution of movement allows the PS3 to track fast as well as subtle movement. A user can swing a tennis racket as with the Wii, but can also paint with a virtual brush.
Feedback -- such as different colors on the controller's sphere or rumble -- responds to the game action. Transmission to the console is via Bluetooth, and power is supplied by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The controller kit is expected to sell for under...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
CA Expands Cloud Services with $350M Nimsoft Purchase
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72125
IT software behemoth CA has acquired yet another company as it moves to provide its emerging enterprise customers and managed-service providers with cloud-computing support. CA acquired Redwood City, Calif.-based Nimsoft, its fourth acquisition in the cloud-computing space, in a cash purchase valued at $350 million, CA announced Wednesday.
Nimsoft, a provider of monitoring systems used in data centers, is the fourth company that CA, formerly Computer Associates, has acquired in the past nine months. CA plans to integrate Nimsoft's assets into its cloud products and solutions business.
The acquisition, expected to close by March 31, will enable CA to tap into Nimsoft's more than 300 managed-service customers such as Hitachi, Barclays Capital, and Amway and its emerging enterprise customers (with revenues between $300 million and $2 billion).
Nimsoft's reporting and monitoring technology has been used in public cloud services such as Google Apps for Business, Amazon Web Services, and Salesforce.com. Its technology has also been used in internal applications and in both physical and virtual server environments.
CA's new acquisition is only one piece to its larger cloud-computing puzzle. CA acquired Cassatt, NetQoS and Oblicore, and last month announced plans to acquire 3Tera.
While Nimsoft attracted a solid customer base, it was having difficulties keeping up with the fast-moving market. Nimsoft hired both engineers and salespeople, but not fast enough, according to CEO Gary Read.
"We were already hiring additional salespeople and engineers as fast as we could, but there is a natural limit to how rapidly you can scale a business without breaking those things that are important to us, customer satisfaction being the top of the list," Read said.
When he was approached by CA, Read said, he was hesitant to begin any talks. That changed once CA told Nimsoft executives that the company was committed...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
The FCC National Broadband Plan Faces Long Haul
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72117
Paul Karpowicz has nothing against broadband. But he has no plans to take part in a government effort to bring it to more homes.
Karpowicz is president of Meredith Broadcasting, which owns 12 local TV stations from Portland, Ore., to New Haven, Conn. Meredith also holds unused TV airwaves covering some of those markets and Karpowicz intends to use them to stream programming to handheld devices.
As part of its National Broadband Plan, due to be unveiled Mar. 16, the federal government wants broadcasters like Meredith to relinquish and let the government sell excess airwaves, which could then be used by wireless carriers to deliver mobile-Web access. Karpowicz says he has no intention of giving up Meredith's airwaves. "I truly don't visualize a scenario where proceeds [from a sale] would exceed lost business opportunities," says Karpowicz, who also sits on the executive committee of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Opposition from the NAB is just one of the hurdles the government must clear as it presses ahead with a plan to bring broadband access to almost 100 million U.S. residents.
For starters, the plan is just that. Federal Communications Commission officials, under Chairman Julius Genachowski, will present the proposal to Congress, which will weigh in as the FCC embarks on a years-long process of implementing the various proposals. "The really difficult policy options are going to be made in follow-through actions," says Paul Glenchur, senior analyst at Potomac Research Group, a Washington-based consultant.
Along the way, the FCC may face resistance from lawmakers unwilling to approve additional funding and from parts of the communications industry, such as satellite providers, largely left out of the plan. "If it were easy, [this reform) would have been done a long time ago," Blair Levin, the Federal Communications Commission official who's spearheading the National Broadband Plan,...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Buying a Windows 7 Computer: Know Your Needs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72114
Now that Windows 7 is widely viewed as a worthwhile upgrade, many are looking at buying a new computer that will take advantage of Microsoft's new operating system. What you look for in a new machine, though, should depend in part on what your primary tasks will be. Read on for some answers.
Q: I'm interested in buying a new desktop to run Windows 7. I'll be using it to edit photographs, video, and for doing general chores. What components should I focus on?
A: Photography and video editing are two of the more demanding tasks that people use their computers for these days, so a beefier machine will be in order.
First of all, you might want to consider installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7. It's good to know which version you intend to install before you buy a machine because that knowledge will help you determine how much memory (RAM) you might want.
The 32-bit version of Windows 7 can access up to 4 GB of memory. Today, though -- especially when editing multiple large photographs while running several other applications -- more than 4 GB of RAM are helpful, and only the 64-bit version of Windows 7 will allow that.
There's really no machine made today that is "too powerful" for photo and video editing, so you should start by looking at higher-end systems.
An Intel Core i5 or i7-based machine would be preferable to a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. The latter two processors are on the way out, The i5 and i7 processors eliminate a significant bottleneck of older chip designs -- namely the so-called "front side bus," a pathway between the processor and other components in the PC.
The chips also can automatically "overclock" themselves, meaning they can deliver more performance when required. Intel's i7 chips are more...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
LifeLock To Pay $12M To Settle False Claims Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72107
LifeLock Inc. -- an identity theft protection company that backed its guarantees by putting its CEO's social security number on the side of its trucks -- will pay $12 million to settle claims it misrepresented its services, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
LifeLock will pay $11 million to the FTC to cover the cost of customer refunds, and another $1 million to the attorneys general of 35 states, the agency said. The FTC said LifeLock made false claims about its ability to prevent identity theft, as the services provide no protection against misuse of existing accounts, which is the most common type of identity theft, or medical or employment identity theft.
The agency described the agreement as one of the largest FTC-state coordinated settlements on record.
In a telephone interview, LifeLock CEO Todd Davis said the company was not acknowledging any wrongdoing. He said all of the company's current advertising and infrastructure have been cleared by the FTC.
The FTC said LifeLock overstated its ability to prevent new account fraud, which accounts for about one out of every six identity thefts. The Tempe, Ariz., company responds to suspected identity theft by placing fraud alerts on accounts, but the FTC said those alerts do not provide absolute protection and they can be foiled by identity thieves.
"There's still nothing that can stop all identity theft," Davis said. "We still have that same position. No one can stop all identity theft."
The agency said LifeLock misrepresented its own data security procedures. The company allegedly deceived customers in its ads by saying all its data was electronically encrypted and that highly secure procedures are used to protect the confidentiality of its customers. The FTC said claims that only authorized LifeLock employees would have access to customer information, and then only on a "need to know" basis, were also...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Google CEO: Resolution in China Dispute 'Soon'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72104
Google Inc.'s CEO said Wednesday the Internet search company is in active negotiations with the Chinese government and expects some resolution in its dispute with Beijing soon.
Speaking at a media conference in the Middle East, Eric Schmidt declined to provide specifics or predict how long the discussions would last, saying that the company has decided not to publicize details of the talks.
"I can't really say anything other than that we're in active negotiations with the Chinese government, and there is no specific timetable," Schmidt told reporters in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi. "Something will happen soon."
Google's comments come just days after China dismissed reports that talks were underway over the company's threat to shut down its China-based search service unless the government relented on censorship.
On Saturday, Chinese vice minister of industry and information technology Miao Wei was quoted as saying that there had been no negotiations with Google.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet company said in January it was alarmed by hacking attacks on it and other companies that appeared to originate from China. Google also complained about attempts that apparently were made to access the Gmail accounts of human rights dissidents.
The dispute has prompted a broader debate about China's controls over the Internet.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized China's censorship, leading China's Foreign Ministry to say her remarks damaged bilateral relations. The U.S. Congress has been holding hearings about Google, China and Web freedom.
In his comments Wednesday, Schmidt denied that Google's dispute was prompted by Washington.
"The Google action was not in any way advanced or coordinated with the U.S. government except post-facto," he said in response to questions. "Google's discussions are with the Chinese government, and they do not involve the U.S. government. The U.S. government's doing its thing unrelated to Google."
Schmidt was speaking at...
Fri, 12 Mar 10
Microsoft Highlights Assistive Technology for Seniors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72045
Not even the vibrancy of the city that never sleeps could get lifelong New Yorker Milton Greidinger to leave his home. Chronic illness kept Greidinger, 86, from participating in outside activities. Loneliness set in. "I was just waiting for my time to finish," Greidinger says.
Now Greidinger, a former department store salesman, has revived some social interests with the help of a private-public partnership between Microsoft and the City of New York that introduces seniors to computer, video, and Internet technology in their homes. The program, known as the Virtual Senior Center, uses technology to fight social isolation and give older, homebound New Yorkers better access to community services.
Working with the Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing, Queens, Microsoft equipped a group of seniors, aged 67 to 103, with a range of technology gadgets and assistive technology to help them function.
For New York, as with cities facing budget shortfalls across the country, a private-public partnership may be a cost-effective way to deliver higher-quality services to a rapidly aging population. "We want to make New York City the most age-friendly city in the nation," says Marah Rhoades, Assistant Commissioner of New York's Department for the Aging.
New York City is home to 1.3 million seniors. About 20,000 need a range of services, from home-delivered meals to medicine dispensing. The city's 60-and-over population is set to jump 50 percent in the next 25 years, according to the Department for the Aging. In fact, the expected rise in the number of people 65 and older will outpace the total population increase in every state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Redmond [Wash.)-based Microsoft can use such partnerships to bring its software and services to a wider range of customers. "Even in a large city like New York, people can...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
Bing Bangs Out More Market Share at Yahoo's Expense
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72121
The search-engine wars are alive and well -- and Bing is the beneficiary again. Microsoft's so-called decision engine grabbed 11.5 percent of the U.S. search market in February, according to comScore.
Although that's only a slight increase over January, when Bing boasted 11.3 percent of the search market, it's an incremental improvement Microsoft is glad to see for its less-than-a-year-old engine.
But it's not all good news for Microsoft, if it cares anything about its newly approved partner's standings. Yahoo's bleeding led to Bing's gains. Yahoo's U.S. search market share dipped from 17 percent in January to 16.8 percent in February, comScore reported.
Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, parsed the data. He noted that Bing continues to grow its user base, although it seems to have slowed a bit. Meanwhile, Google is unaffected.
"Those feeling the competitive pinch of Bing appear to be Microsoft partner Yahoo and the two smaller major search providers, Ask and AOL. The irony of Bing's success, partly at Yahoo's expense, is that Microsoft hasn't seen any growth in the combined share of Bing and Yahoo, which has remained largely flat," Sterling said. "The Yahoo search slide has now been going on roughly a year, and it has to be a matter of concern to the company. However, it's not immediately clear what they can do to arrest it."
Jeffries & Co. analyst Youssef Squali also noted the shifting fortunes between Bing and Yahoo. In a research note dated March 10, Squali noted how Bing has added 350 basis points of growth since its June 2009 launch. Meanwhile, Yahoo has shed about 330 basis points since May 2009.
"While the share losses have been exacerbated by the ongoing rollover of tool-bar partnerships (with HP and Adobe), we continue to believe that it is critical for Yahoo to...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
Apple's App Store Terms Are Stiff, But Does Anyone Care?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72120
Apple tightly controls not only the approval of third-party applications for its App Store but also its developers. Apple's developer agreement says "Public statements regarding this agreement, its terms and conditions, or the relationship of the parties" require Apple's written approval.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation made the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement public. EFF obtained the agreement via a Freedom of Information Act request to NASA, which recently released an app for the iPhone.
As Apple readies its iPad for release -- at the same time a rash of competing tablets are expected -- the question of how much control Apple should have over developers is "particularly relevant," EFF Senior Counsel Fred von Lohmann said. He detailed several "troubling highlights."
Developers are banned from speaking about the terms of the agreement, even though the terms aren't defined as trade secrets. Apple imposes a gag order on developers apart from any trade-secret issues.
By using Apple's software development kit, developers agree to distribute their creations only through Apple's App Store. Apple can reject an application for any reason, even if it meets all the formal requirements set up by Apple.
Thus developers can sink hundreds of hours of development time into an app, have it rejected by Apple, and have no choice but to toss that work out. "So if you use the SDK and your app is rejected by Apple, you're prohibited from distributing it through competing app stores like Cydia or Rock Your Phone, von Lohmann said.
p
The EFF also complained that Apple bans reverse engineering -- including the kinds of reverse engineering for interoperability that courts have recognized as a fair use under copyright law. Apple even outlaws enabl(ing) others to reverse-engineer the SDK or iPhone OS.
p
The SDK also appears to include a complete ban on tinkering with any Apple products -- not just jailbreaking...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
MySpace Revamp Aims To Reverse User Exodus
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72118
MySpace is attempting to bring back old users and attract new ones with a complete revamp of the social network. The plans to change come after the social network has lost market share against its rivals.
p
Once considered the household name for social-networking web sites, MySpace lost its top position in the market once Facebook began to attract new users at high rate.
p
Expected changes include a cleanup of the cluttered layout and faster page loads. The bigger changes include a focus on music. These features will be made available in the next few months, according to MySpace, with users able to share music playlists with other users.
p
MySpace executives have been talking about the changes in recent weeks. The revamp is because MySpace really wanted to show the crowd how MySpace is thinking different about the advertiser experience, said MySpace's Nada Stirratt, chief revenue officer, in a post.
p
subheadFocusing on Youth/subhead
p
This lets MySpace hone in on a core user base of music-oriented fans and young people seeking self-expression, according to Ray Valdes, a Gartner analyst.
p
MySpace's focus on a younger audiences makes sense since adults favor Facebook, according to recent data from the Pew Internet American Life Project. A total of 73 percent of all adults 18 and older who use social-networking sites have a Facebook account. Seventy-one percent of those adults are between the ages of 18-29.
p
These changes are welcome and necessary, but by themselves cannot reverse powerful market trends, Valdes said.
p
But many observers question if these changes will be enough to attract new users. In January, MySpace had 119 million unique visitors, a 7.4 percent decrease from the same month in 2009, according to ComScore, a provider of online traffic reports. MySpace executives, however, expect that number to grow to 200 million or 300 million. While the number...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
Patches Highlight Problems in Maintaining Older Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72098
Microsoft on Tuesday released two security bulletins to fix eight bugs in its Windows and Microsoft Office software. Both bulletins are rated important, but analysts said many of the vulnerabilities could potentially be more severe if exploited.
p
Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager at Symantec Security Response, is concerned that in many enterprise environments, Windows XP is still common, and these vulnerabilities are more serious on XP and older systems.
p
Since Windows 7, Microsoft has seemed to downgrade file-based vulnerabilities, Talbot said. In the past, I think many of the vulnerabilities patched this month could have been rated critical, but with protections like DEP and ASLR, these types of vulnerabilities are less of an issue for Windows 7.
p
subhead
A Patch Roller Coaster
/subhead
p
Andrew Storms, director of Security operations for nCircle, said IT security teams have been on a Microsoft roller coaster so far in 2010 in regards to bulletins. He pointed to January, which produced two bulletins, including the out-of-band emergency release for Internet Explorer. That was followed by a monster patch of 13 bulletins in February. March will go down in history as a light Patch Tuesday with only two important bulletins.
p
Unfortunately, this was the first patch for the newer, safer Office 2007 file format. File-format attacks continue to be a favorite attack vector for earlier versions of Office, especially 2003, Storms said. Since releasing Office 2007 three years ago, Microsoft hasn't had to patch a single bug in this file format, something I'm sure they are pretty proud of. IT security teams everywhere will be keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that this isn't the beginning of a new streak of vulnerabilities in Office.
p
For the second time in three months, Microsoft has also issued a warning about a new IE zero-day bug. Like the IE zero-day bug from January that got a lot of...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
HP Turns Steve Jobs' Flash Snub Against Apple's iPad
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72097
No watered-down Internet. No sacrifices. That's the promise Hewlett-Packard Vice President and CTO Phil McKinney offered consumers in a blog post about the PC giant's upcoming tablet computer. HP's iPad competitor, he promised, will offer a full web browsing experience in the palm of your hand.
p
McKinney's blog even posted a demo of HP's upcoming tablet computer running Adobe System's Flash player and its Air application that lets Flash run outside of a browser. The video doesn't compare to the polished Apple commercial showcasing the iPad during the Oscars, but it does offer a sneak peak of what consumers can expect later this year -- including Flash capabilities.
p
HP's partnership with Adobe on the tablet flies on the face of Apple's iPad strategy. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided not to include Flash support in the iPad, insulting Adobe and opening the door for the software maker to find partners to rival Apple in tablets.
p
subhead
A Flashy Tablet Argument
/subhead
p
Flash performance, while critical to vast number of web sites, is not typically a subject whose interest extends much beyond concerned developers and their beleaguered spouses, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. But given the enormous interest generated by the iPad, the issue became something of a cause célèbre among Apple's fans and foes, Adobe's buddies and enemies, and nondenominational Internet aficionados.
p
No matter what one thinks of Flash, King said it seems odd to close the iPad, a device designed largely for media consumption, to some of the Internet's best-known media sites. However, Jobs doesn't have a reputation for suffering fools gladly, even when the fools are asking perfectly reasonable questions, King said.
p
Beyond whatever Jobs might have hoped to achieve with his comments, we doubt that Phil McKinney's blog post was among his goals. In essence, Jobs' blanket...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
Web Standards Group Gets a New Leader
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72084
A former executive with IBM and other tech companies has been named the new CEO of an organization in charge of coordinating the technical specifications behind the World Wide Web.
p
The Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, is remaining the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, and Jeffrey Jaffe, 55, will work under him as its CEO. Jaffe replaces Steve Bratt, 53, who left the position in mid-2009 to run a Web foundation also started by Berners-Lee.
p
Jaffe brings both business and technical expertise. He has been vice president of technology at IBM Corp. and most recently chief technology officer at Novell Inc. He also was an executive at Bell Labs.
p
Just as the Web is constantly growing and changing, so is the community around it and so is the consortium, Berners-Lee said in a statement. Jeff's broad experience gives him a deep understanding of many different types of organizations, which will be invaluable in managing W3C's evolution.
p
The consortium, known as W3C, writes the technical rules designed to ensure that Web pages can work using different software, different computers and different languages. For example, it created guidelines on how to format Web pages so that they work more easily with software designed for the blind. It also crafts the basic commands for HTML, the Web's main programming language.
p
W3C's members include such leading tech companies as Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. and institutions such as universities and the Library of Congress. Its main offices are in Cambridge, Mass., Tokyo and the Sophia Antipolis science and tech center near Nice, France.
Thu, 11 Mar 10
White House Starts Spreading the Tweets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72083
#wanttospinWHreporters?
p
If you're PressSec -- White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' username on Twitter -- you join the powerful social media platform and push your message across the Internet, 140 characters at a time.
p
Blending behind-the-scenes nuggets with a defense of President Barack Obama's record, White House and administration officials increasingly are communicating through Twitter.
p
The popular social network is operating as a Web-based clearinghouse for public statements on weighty subjects (the federal budget) and the mundane (personal grocery lists). It's similar to a bulletin board where anyone can post short notes and users cull the pieces they see by choosing to follow individuals' account.
p
Forget press releases. Gibbs and his deputy, Bill Burton, are now sharing news in Twitter messages. So far 35,000 people have signed up to follow Gibbs and more than 6,000 are tracking Burton. Those two officials have a ways to go to catch actor Ashton Kutcher and his 4.6 million followers.
p
Wow unreal game... POTUS watched OT in his office right off the Oval Office -- all of us are so proud of our great team, Gibbs tweeted during the men's Olympic hockey finals last Sunday, when the Americans lost the gold medal game to Canada in overtime. POTUS, of course, is the acronym for president of the United States.
p
Burton offered a midgame, inside-the-Beltway joke: Tied! White House response, on bgnd, from a low- to midlevel administration official: USA! USA! USA! (He was referring to a favorite administration request when talking to the press on background means the official won't be identified publicly.) After the U.S. loss, Burton noted that America still led the overall medal race.
p
These are hardly the pronouncements one expects from the president's top spokesmen. But as Obama's team continues an online strategy set in place during the campaign and imported to Pennsylvania Avenue, it seems only...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
IBM Develops Earth-Friendly Plastic
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72080
When you recycle a plastic bottle, it doesn't necessarily become another plastic bottle.
p
Because of limitations in recycling technology, a common type of plastic used in water bottles and food containers weakens so much when it's recycled that it can't be used again for the same purpose. Some small amount of the plastic might make it into another bottle, but more often than not, it instead becomes synthetic carpet or clothing and can't easily be recycled a second time. So when those products are used up, they end up in landfills.
p
Researchers from IBM Corp. and Stanford University believe they have developed a way to significantly improve the quality of recycled plastic and strip away those limitations.
p
A new recycling method the researchers are announcing Tuesday involves a way to break the plastic down so that it can be reused again and again in the same form. It is an advancement that could intrigue beverage companies and help cut the environmental damage from making plastic from scratch.
p
The innovation is a new family of catalysts that can reduce polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic to its basic building blocks, while retaining its original properties and making it ridiculously economical to build it back up again, said Bob Allen, senior manager of chemistry and functional materials for IBM's Almaden research center in Silicon Valley.
p
The project is in the laboratory on a small scale. Researchers are planning a bigger pilot at the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, home to Saudi Arabia's national laboratories. Allen said the technology could be commercially available within five years if the pilot goes well.
p
A critical question will be the price of the technology.
p
Andrew Williamson, a director with the venture capital firm Physic Ventures who has seen IBM's research, said it could help solve one of the biggest challenges facing food...
Thu, 11 Mar 10
Tax Time Brings Out the Fraud Artists
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72034
How do you know that the sender of an e-mail that has landed in your inbox is trying to steal your money or your identity? The message comes right out and asks for it.
p
Tax season means computer criminals are going to be out in force, pumping out bogus e-mails that purport to be from the Internal Revenue Service. These messages ask you to supply personal information in all kinds of scams. Often the scam e-mails offer help speeding up the preparation of tax returns or securing a big refund.
p
The e-mails also might just be a cover for criminals to install malicious software on your computers, by tricking you into opening attachments or visiting poisoned Web sites.
p
Scam e-mails can be stunningly convincing, so you often can't tell just by looking at them whether they're real or fake. They can use authentic-looking IRS logos and even e-mail addresses: Scammers can make it appear as if they're writing from a legitimate government e-mail address, so you can't trust the from line in e-mails you receive.
p
So what should you do to protect yourself?
p
Don't supply your personal information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, to anyone e-mailing you for it. The e-mails might state that they just need a few pieces of personal information to get started. The IRS doesn't discuss tax matters with people by e-mail.
p
Also, don't open attachments or follow links in unsolicited e-mails. When it comes to computer security, if someone's offering you something online that you didn't ask for, chances are you probably don't want it.
Wed, 10 Mar 10
As Ballmer Praises Apple, EFF Cites Stiff App Store Rules
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72096
With the stakes high in Microsoft's bid to add its search engine to the iPhone, a few words of praise by the software giant's CEO have drawn a considerable amount of attention.
"Apple's done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property" in the App Store, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a University of Washington audience last week.
Although Ballmer was stating the obvious, observers and analysts quickly surmised that he was trying to sweeten the waters in advance of Apple's decision on whether to replace Google with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on the iPhone operating system.
Business Week reported in January that the two giants were in negotiations for that deal. Asked by Reuters about the prospects after unveiling the Windows 7 Phone Series last month, Ballmer said, "I hear the same rumors you do."
The App Store has more than 130,000 products for sale or free, fueling the sale of iPods and iPhones and creating a user experience that other smartphone manufacturers have tried to emulate. Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile has less than 1,000 apps.
"It would appear that Microsoft is no longer in denial about what Apple has accomplished," said Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group, a technology consulting firm. "The question is, will Microsoft be able to drive a wedge between Apple and Google and find a new and unlikely ally in the mobile space?"
As Ballmer praised the App Store, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based nonprofit, launched a broadside against Apple by publishing the company's 28-page developer licensing agreement on its web site.
Since NASA now has an iPhone app, the group cleverly filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the agreement that the government agency signed with Apple.
"The entire family of devices built...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Facebook Reported Ready To Let Users Share Locations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72095
Facebook may join other Internet companies in offering location-based services. The social-networking site plans to let its users to share their location and see the locations of friends, according to published reports.
Facebook could use the service to provide advertisers with targeted information such as the nearest ATM. The feature is expected to be similar to Foursquare, a location-based social network that enables users to "check in" with one another and meet up.
Some Internet users have accepted location services as a way to gain information they feel is valuable, such as a coupon for a nearby restaurant or personalized weather services. But others fear it's another example of Big Brother watching and, in this case, knowing where they are.
Facebook has been working on the feature for more than a year and is expected to make it available to its millions of users, reports say. The company also plans to provide application programming interfaces to third-party developers who want to add location features to their Facebook applications.
The company is tight-lipped about the service. "We are constantly experimenting with new ideas and products internally," said Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokesperson, in an e-mail. "We don't have anything more to share at this time."
Facebook may want to announce the feature at its F8 Conference next month.
U.S. companies offering location-based services must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires users' consent. Under the 2003 act, companies have given users control of location services on web sites and in mobile apps.
In Europe, the European Union has taken steps to protect users from information gathered through location-based services.
Some companies have taken extra steps by adding privacy-enhancing technologies.
Companies hoping to give advertisers ways to target audiences have been implementing location-based services for some time. Rummble, a location-based social network,...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Remote-Code Vulnerability Being Exploited in IE 6 and 7
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72094
Older versions of Internet Explorer are under attack. Microsoft warned Tuesday afternoon that cybercriminals are actively exploiting a security vulnerability that lets attackers execute malicious code from remote locations.
Microsoft's internal investigation reveals that the latest version of the browser, Internet Explorer 8, is not affected. Likewise, Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 is not affected.
Here's a quick list of affected versions for IT administrators looking to implement a workaround to mitigate the risk: Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, and Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.
"In addition to Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates today, the company also issued an advisory for a new zero-day vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer," said Josh Talbot, security intelligence manager for Symantec Security Response. "Symantec has observed exploitation of this vulnerability in the wild and has created Trojan.Malscript!html and JS.Downloader detection to mitigate this attack."
Microsoft said the vulnerability exists due to an invalid pointer reference being used within Internet Explorer. Under certain conditions, it's possible for the invalid pointer to be accessed after an object is deleted, according to a March 9 Microsoft security advisory. In a specially-crafted attack, in attempting to access a freed object, Internet Explorer can be caused to allow remote code execution.
"At this time, we are aware of targeted attacks attempting to use this vulnerability. We will continue to monitor the threat environment and update this advisory if this situation changes," Microsoft said. "On completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to protect our customers, which may include providing a solution through our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs."
IT administrators can take heart in the mitigating factors that may protect their...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Cisco Unveils Much Faster CRS-3 Router for Net Growth
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72088
The wait is over. Cisco Systems on Tuesday finally took the lid off its hype machine to reveal ... a new router. Cisco is positioning its CRS-3 Carrier Routing System as the foundation of the next-generation Internet that will pave the way for rapid growth of video transmissions, mobile devices, and new online services.
The CRS-3 offers three times the traffic capacity of the its predecessor, the CRS-1, Cisco said, and promises to accelerate the delivery of new experiences for consumers, new revenue opportunities for service providers, and new ways to collaborate in the workplace. That's a lot of hyperbole, but analysts said it's believable.
"It's too bad Cisco led up to this router announcement with so much hype. People were expecting Armageddon or something. They had this countdown timer as if something big was going to happen," said Zeus Kerravala, a vice president at Yankee Group. "At the end of the day what Cisco announced was a big, fast router. But that's what Cisco does. We expect Cisco to release bigger, faster routers. It's what they built their company history on."
The Cisco CRS-3 can handle up to 322 terabits per second. To put that speed into perspective, this router would allow the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just more than one second. Or every man, woman and child in China to make a video call -- simultaneously. And every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.
The Cisco CRS-3 makes possible unified service delivery of Internet and cloud services. A Network Positioning System provides layers three to seven application information for the best path to content. And a cloud virtual private network for Infrastructure as a Service lets customers "pay as you go" for computing, storage and network...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Sony, Samsung Join Campaign To Push 3-D TV Sets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72087
On the heels of the big 3-D television presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sony and Samsung are joining Panasonic, LG Electronics, and others in promoting the new technology. On Tuesday, Sony said it is aiming for 10 percent of its TV sales within the next year to be 3-D models, and Samsung announced a range of HDTV sets and Blu-ray players will ship later this month.
At a press conference Tuesday in New York City, Samsung announced what it described as the "world's first available full HD 3D LED TV," as well as a variety of related 3-D home entertainment products.
Under a new promotion, buyers of a Samsung 3-D TV and 3-D Blu-ray player or home theater system will get a "3-D starter kit" with two pairs of 3-D glasses and a 3-D version of DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs Aliens. The manufacturer also said it plans to make available a 3-D version of the studio's popular Shrek film series.
Samsung's 3-D offerings include 46- and 55-inch LED TVs being released this month, and others to be rolled out over the next several months. It also touted the 240-Hz refresh rate and Internet connectivity in the new models, as well as access to the "world's first HDTV app store," Samsung Apps.
On Wednesday, Panasonic will start selling its first 3-D TV in the U.S. in a partnership with Best Buy, while Samsung is also launching a 3-D TV and Blu-ray player offer with that retailer. LG said Tuesday it will begin offering its new 3-D sets in India.
Sony's first sales will be in June in Japan, and the company hasn't announced launch plans for the new products in the U.S. It has also said it will be releasing a software update for the PlayStation 3,...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
HP Swipes at iPad as 'Watered Down' as Rivals Line Up
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72063
Competitors in the fast-moving tablet-computer category are lining up to take on Apple's iPad. Hewlett-Packard is the latest to preview its upcoming slate product, and other companies like Lenovo, Sony, Dell and Acer are similarly positioning their products.
The HP tablet runs Windows 7, and was first previewed by Microsoft at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. HP published some details on its company blog last month and updated the information with a posting Monday that includes two promotional videos. The videos show a tablet device running Flash and responding to hand gestures.
The positioning by tablet makers comes a few weeks before the iPad goes on sale in early April. On Sunday night, Apple showed its first iPad TV ad during the Academy Awards. It showcased the device's ease of use for e-mails, movies, music, photos, news reading, and web searching.
But the iPad is being criticized for several shortcomings, and the posting on the HP blog by Personal Systems Group Chief Technology Officer Phil McKinney emphasized some of those differences.
The HP slate product, McKinney wrote, gives "a full web browsing experience in the palm of your hand," not a "watered-down Internet." In particular, he noted, it has full support for Adobe's ubiquitous Flash technology.
Not coincidentally, Apple's mobile devices do not support Flash, which is used for most of the animation and much of the video shown on the web. In addition to being Flash-less, the iPad also doesn't have a webcam, HDMI high-definition output, GPS or multitasking.
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, noted that the apparent rush of competition following the iPad announcement in January is really the latest in a "long history of tablet-based computing devices." To date, no tablet product has been particularly successful, so...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Google Testing Personalized Search for TV Programs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72062
As Internet and television continue to converge, Google is actively testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The service reportedly runs on TV set-top boxes that host Google software and enable viewers to find shows on Dish and video on web sites like YouTube. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter who said the service will allow viewers to personalize a lineup of shows.
The report follows TiVo's launch last week of digital video recorders that combine broadcast and web content. Microsoft and Apple are also looking for their place in the hybrid broadcast-web space. Google's experiment offers the search giant access to 14 million Dish viewers, signaling the potential to yield valuable results.
As Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, sees it, there are two overlapping angles here: Consumer experience and advertising.
"Obviously online Google satisfies consumer search queries and serves targeted ads against those. This would appear to extend the same model to TV," Sterling said. "But the ad component would also feature a behavioral element -- viewing history -- as part of the targeting."
Television seems like a natural extension of Google ads, especially as set-top boxes combine the ability to search and view content from traditional and Internet broadcasters. Google is intent on pushing its Android operating system beyond mobile devices to set-top boxes, buddy boxes, and TVs, a Journal interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt in January suggested.
Google has the lion's share of Internet search and is actively battling for mobile search. Can Google succeed in translating its search dominance to yet another screen? That remains to be seen, especially in an ultracompetitive market for set-top boxes. But Google sees the potential -- and so does Sterling.
"As the...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Smartphones Transforming Business Travel
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72050
Business traveler Mike Monroe no longer rummages through his bag at the airline counter fishing for his flight ticket or confirmation number.
The consultant from Lakeland, Fla., has gone paperless, thanks to Continental Airlines' electronic boarding passes. Once he checks in online, the carrier e-mails a bar code to his phone. That code is scanned at security checkpoints and gates instead of a boarding pass. "It takes away a lot of annoyances."
Monroe also uses his BlackBerry for airlines' flight-change alerts, routing all calls into one number provided by Google Voice, turn-by-turn driving directions when he's behind the wheel and watching TV on Slingbox when he has downtime. He also carries an iPod Touch -- like an iPhone but without the phone -- to make international calls using Skype, get the latest sports scores and weather from Viigo and access Urbanspoon's reviews of nearby restaurants. "Nothing really cutting edge," Monroe says, "but I'm just trying every day to reduce the stress."
Monroe is a member of a growing army of tech-savvy travelers whose smartphones are transforming their travel habits. Beyond online maps and travel guides, travelers are turning to their phones to look up aircraft seat configuration, track taxis, reply to early hotel check-in requests, order room service and locate nearby colleagues.
Few Americans remain untouched by the effects of the mobile Internet. But the tech industry's core mission of getting people to lead untethered lives inevitably invites road warriors such as Monroe as early adopters of all their bells and whistles. The travel industry has responded with some of the most innovative applications available on smartphones. And more are coming.
Airlines and hotels are refining their mobile Web sites and creating applications, or "apps," for downloading to popular phone models, such as iPhones, BlackBerrys and Google Android phones. Entrepreneurial software developers are rolling out...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Tech Titans Create Content-Gadget Ecosystems
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72046
You may not know it, but your gadgets have a hidden agenda. Think about the electronics you own. No doubt there's a digital music player such as an Apple iPod or a Microsoft Zune. Then there's a smartphone -- perhaps an iPhone or a Droid that sports the Google-inspired Android operating system. For games, your family may have an Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, or Nintendo Wii. For books, there's the Kindle from Amazon, among others. When the iPad hits stores on Apr. 3, you'll want that, too.
Each device contains its own widening universe of services and applications, many delivered via the Internet. They are designed to keep you wedded to a particular company's ecosystem and set of products.
A battle looms, and it's not about selling new gadgets -- it's about using devices to lock you into a content ecosystem. In an ironic evolution of the World Wide Web that once promised consistent access to all of the globe's information, corporate giants are now striving to wall off sections of content and charge you for access.
The Internet is splitting into a series of content portals. The front door is your iPod. Consider some of the current gadget trends:
-- iPad versus Flash. When Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled his sexy tablet in January, it soon was clear that the iPad wouldn't support Adobe Systems Flash software. That might seem a remarkable oversight, since Flash supports most videos on the Web -- until you realize that Jobs might prefer you to pay for videos at his iTunes store.
-- Kindle in Color. On its Lab126 career board, Amazon recently placed ads in search of engineers who have design expertise in color LCD screens and Wi-Fi. The listings suggest Amazon may be planning a color upgrade for...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
Building Your Own Computer: Not Just for Nerds
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72044
Buy a standard off-the-shelf computer and you're probably making compromises. It's rare to find a pre-configured system that meets your needs to a tee.
The simplest way to make sure that every piece of technology in a new desktop PC fits your requirements is to build it yourself. You don't have to be a nerd to manage the task anymore, either. The key thing is to enter into the planning stage by ensuring that the individual pieces -- the components -- are compatible with one another.
The key components of any PC are the case, power supply, motherboard and processor (including fans and heat conductive paste), memory, graphics cards, optical drive, and hard drive.
"Once you have these components, you can create a PC system that would suffice for most users," says Christian Kissinger from German electronics specialists Conrad Elektronik.
Each one of the components listed above is available in hundreds of variants. Deciding which one should grace the inside of your new creation is largely a matter of determining what kind of tasks the computer will be performing. A computer being used just for email messages and surfing the net doesn't require the horsepower under the hood that a gaming PC needs, for example.
Evaluating the individual components is thus a relatively important part of the process, says Josef Reitberger from the computer magazine Chip, but it can also be fun. He suggests checking the top products lists in well-known magazines.
Reitberger feels the challenge of physically constructing the PC itself is often overblown. "Good cases are constructed so that amateur tinkerers just have to tighten a few screws," he notes. And those even usually come included with delivery.
The process is a key part of the PC.
If you've already decided on a specific model, then the next step is finding a suitable motherboard. Once that...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
IT Workers on Leave Amid School Webcam Probe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72042
Two information-technology workers at a suburban Philadelphia school district that secretly activated webcams on students' school-issued laptops are on paid leave amid an FBI wiretap investigation.
Lower Merion School District officials have said the webcams were only activated to locate missing laptops, and not for any rogue purpose.
"Placing them on administrative leave with pay is not a reflection of any wrongdoing on their part. It is a standard, prudent step in an investigation such as this one," the district said in a statement Friday, confirming a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
Technician Michael Perbix and systems coordinator Carol Cafiero went on leave two weeks ago, after a student's lawsuit revealed the district practice of taking webcam photos and screen shots when laptops were reported lost or stolen.
The district remotely activated 42 webcams in the last 14 months, successfully locating 18 of the computers. School officials have declined to describe the resulting photographs, or say if any were taken inside student homes. The district has halted the practice amid the lawsuit and resulting state and federal criminal probes.
In the civil suit, Harriton High School student Blake Robbins accuses school officials of invading his privacy by photographing him in his bedroom without permission. A vice principal later approached him, he said, and warned that school officials -- based on webcam photos -- suspected him of selling drugs.
Robbins, 15, denies the drug allegation. He claims Vice Principal Lindy Matsko mistook Mike & Ike candies for illicit pills.
Lower Merion, a wealthy district on Philadelphia's Main Line, spent $21,600 per student in 2008-2009, the most in the Philadelphia region and nearly twice the $11,426 spent on Philadelphia children. The district issues the $1,000 Macintosh laptops to each of the 2,300 students at two high schools.
Robbins' lawyer hopes to win class-action certification, but nearly 500 district parents have signed on...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
AMD Slashes CEO's Pay Package
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72041
Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors, reduced its CEO's pay package 14 percent last year. The company cut executives' pay in response to falling sales.
CEO Dirk Meyer received a package for the 2009 fiscal year that AMD valued at $4.5 million. That's according to Associated Press calculations based on a regulatory filing late Friday. For 2008, his pay package was valued at $5.3 million.
In AMD's 2009 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 26, Meyer received restricted stock and options of $3.7 million. In 2008, his stock-and-options package was $4.4 million.
Meyer, 48, has held AMD's top job for the past year and a half. He became CEO after Hector Ruiz left to become chairman of the spinoff company made up of AMD's chip-making plants.
In 2009, besides restricted stock and options of $3.7 million, Meyer received:
- A salary of $792,685.
- A bonus of $45,000 to restore his salary for three months of 2009 to its level before AMD cut salaries for its executives.
- Other compensation of $7,478, made up mainly of AMD's matching contributions to Meyer's 401(k) retirement account.
In 2009, $605,280 worth of Meyer's stock also vested.
In February, AMD cut Meyer's salary 20 percent in light of the sour economy. Other executives' pay was cut 15 percent. No bonuses were paid in 2009 to executives because of what the company called the "challenging business environment."
After customer demand and the company's finances improved later in the year, the salary cuts were restored. All AMD employees whose salaries had been cut received one-time payments that restored their full salaries for the September-November 2009 period.
When Ruiz left AMD in March of last year to head AMD's factory spinoff, GlobalFoundries, he received a retirement payment of $4.4 million. He also received $3 million for finishing the spinoff successfully.
In 2009, AMD's revenue...
Wed, 10 Mar 10
In College, Is Better Education Just a Click Away?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72036
The students in Michael Dubson's physics class at the University of Colorado fell silent as a multiple choice question flashed on a screen, sending them scrambling for small white devices on their desks.
Within seconds, a monitor on Dubson's desk told him that 92 percent of the class had correctly answered the question on kinetic energy, a sign that they grasped the concept.
Clickers -- not unlike gadgets used on television game shows -- first appeared in college classrooms over a decade ago and have since spread to just about every college and university in the country thanks to cheaper and better technology.
But as clickers have become commonplace, a divide has emerged over just how sophisticated they should be.
Some professors like Dubson endorse simple, straightforward devices that stick to multiple choice questions. Others embrace fancier models or newer applications for smart phones and laptops that allow students to query the professor by text or e-mail during the lecture or conduct discussion with classmates -- without the cost of purchasing a clicker.
Those preferring simplicity say pared-down remotes reduce distractions in a multitasking world, while others say fighting the march to smart phones and digital tablets is a losing battle.
Clickers first gained popularity in large science lecture halls as a way of gauging whether students understood the material. They have since migrated into smaller classrooms and can be found in nursing and other professional schools. Even middle schools and high schools are using them.
Research at the college level has found that students like using the devices and attendance often goes up. But results are mixed when it comes to learning. Some evidence suggests clicker use has led to only modest gains in retention and test scores, while other studies have detected little or no improvement, according to a November article in the North American...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Energizer USB Charger Software Contains Malware
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72061
Some Windows PC users may hope the Energizer bunny didn't keep going and going. It turns out the Energizer DUO USB battery charger is a vehicle for attacks on PCs, according to the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
US-CERT researchers said Friday that the software that installs with the Energizer charger contains a Trojan horse that gives malicious hackers a back door into Windows machines.
"An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user," US-CERT said. "Removing the Energizer USB charger software will also remove the registry value that causes the backdoor to execute automatically when Windows starts."
Although the fix seems relatively easy for consumers who are aware they have been infected, the path in was also straightforward. Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, said consumers were probably not expecting the Energizer software to carry a malicious payload.
"Typically in a Windows 7 or even a Windows Vista install, if you mess around with ports you should get a warning," Enderle said. "Because consumers got the software from a trusted source, chances are you'll bypass the warning and go ahead and install it because you think you are only installing the battery monitor. This is a nasty piece of work."
Enderle questioned the origin of the software, noting that Trojans seem to make their way into programs when the software is developed outside the U.S. Chances are, he said, the software was developed in China or some other foreign country.
Symantec also investigated the Energizer malware and discovered that the Trojan listens for commands on port 7777. That by itself is not so unusual, the company said, but Symantec researchers were surprised that...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Is Internet Access a Fundamental Right?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72060
Four out of five adults view Internet access as their fundamental right. So says a new BBC World Service global poll of 27,000 adults across 26 countries.
Conducted by GlobeScan, the poll reveals that 87 percent of survey participants who use the Internet feel web access should be the "fundamental right of all people." Seventy-one percent of non-Internet users agreed with that statement. South Korea, Mexico and China saw the highest percentage of users who feel Net access is a fundamental right.
"Despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the Internet as their fundamental right," said GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller. "They think the web is a force for good, and most don't want governments to regulate it."
As Miller hinted, most web users are very positive about the changes the Internet has brought to their lives, such as access to information, greater freedom and social networking. However, some are concerned about the potential for fraud and show caution over expressing opinions online.
Specifically, 78 percent of participants said the Internet has brought them greater freedom while 90 percent describe the web as a good place to learn, and just over half said they enjoy spending time on social-networking sites.
Forty-seven percent of participants also cited the ability to find information of all sorts as one of the aspects of the web they most valued, followed by the ability to interact and communicate with people, find entertainment, research and buy products, and create and share content.
"This goes along the lines of free speech. The Internet is the right to information access," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "Much like you have a right to breathe air, use water or use any other commodity, the Internet has become a commodity and citizens worldwide view...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Verizon Reports Faster Speeds in 4G LTE Network Tests
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72059
Six months after launching trials of its new 4G Long Term Evolution network, Verizon Wireless has reported wireless data speeds faster than its own and competitors' existing networks. The recorded speeds are also faster than any competitors' promised 3G network speeds.
Trials in Boston and Seattle show the LTE network is able to hold peak download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second and peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 megabits per second, the New Jersey-based wireless carrier announced Monday.
Verizon's development of LTE began in August in response to consumer demands for more bandwidth and richer applications. Since then, engineers have been testing the LTE network in both cities with voice calls, web browsing, file uploads and downloads, and voice calls using Voice over Internet Protocol.
The next-generation 4G cellular technology is more than 10 times faster than 3G and has enhanced security.
Verizon said it will be the first to roll out LTE this year, and boasted that the new network will have superior coverage and performance, thanks to its 700-MHz national deployment in 49 states, including Hawaii.
The company has an aggressive rollout plan for its LTE network, according to CTO Tony Melone, who said Verizon plans to deploy the network to approximately 100 million people in 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year.
The company already is in the process of installing LTE equipment at switching centers and cell sites throughout the nation as part of its investment in its voice and data infrastructure.
Analysts expect LTE to grow faster than past mobile standards. LTE is expected to take four years to reach 100 million subscriptions, which is two years less than it took for High Speed Packet Access to reach the same number of subscriptions.
LTE subscriptions worldwide will grow at...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Panasonic and Best Buy Plan To Push 3-D TV Sets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72058
In one of the funnier moments of Sunday's Academy Awards, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin thought they spotted Avatar director James Cameron in the audience. The hosts whipped out 3-D glasses to scan the audience for the man whose top-grossing film has fueled more interest in 3-D viewing.
While the gag got some laughs, it may not be unusual for more people to carry around 3-D glasses this year. All the top manufacturers are planning 3-D television models.
And on Wednesday, Panasonic and Best Buy will kick off a partnership to put more of the struggling Japanese electronics manufacturer's TV sets in U.S. living rooms.
While neither company had posted a news release about the venture as of Monday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal said Monday that Panasonic hopes to revive flagging sales of its plasma sets with the 3-D push, and will offer a large discount for its 50-inch model at $2,500. The same set sells for about $4,800 in Japan. Best Buy will add more than 1,000 display centers in its stores to highlight the experience, the report said.
Panasonic, which trails Samsung, LG Electronics, and Sony in worldwide TV sales, unveiled its VT25 3-D set at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That set comes with a battery-operated pair of glasses with shutters that create the 3-D effect, unlike previous 3-D technology that relied on color filters and glasses with red and blue lenses.
But with the economy still teetering precipitously, is this a good time for new luxury goods?
"Absolutely," said Avi Greengart, a consumer devices specialist at Current Analysis. "Vendors are always searching for premium features that keep them from competing solely on cost. While it is true that unemployment is high and there is still a stigma attached to extravagant luxuries, a $2,500 price tag hardly...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Rivals Report Boost from Microsoft's Browser Ballot
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72057
Mozilla and Opera Software say they are seeing an uptick in demand for their browsers in the wake of Microsoft's launch of a choice ballot in Europe. Mozilla CEO John Lilly told The New York Times over the weekend that more than 50,000 Firefox downloads have already occurred via direct links from the new choice screen that the European Commission mandated last year as part of its antitrust settlement with Microsoft.
Though Microsoft has said it won't complete its ballot rollout in Europe until May, demand for Opera's rival browser has already grown, noted Opera Software Communications Manager Falguni Bhuta.
"Since the browser screen rollout, we have seen downloads of our desktop browser more than triple in major European countries such as Belgium, France, Spain, Poland and the U.K.," Bhuta said.
Microsoft's browser rivals hope to see a further rise in demand once more European PC users gain access to the choice screen. Still, there is a world of difference between the amount of software downloads and the number of users who actually adopt a browser as their preferred surfing application.
For example, the maker of the Maxthon browser boasts of 300 million downloads worldwide, yet the product barely registers a blip on the latest web metrics. However, Opera believes that once users have had a chance to try out Opera 10.50, they will quickly see the advantages -- particularly when browsing the web in bandwidth-constrained online environments.
As Bhuta points out, users will be able to set up the browser's Opera Turbo engine to dramatically cut the amount of time it takes for any web page to load. Even better, the turbo function can be set to automatically engage whenever it detects a slow network connection.
"On your browser window, on the bottom left you will see an icon that looks like...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Motorola Releases Two New Android Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72054
Motorola is placing two new bets on the open-source Android operating system with the release of its Backflip and Devour smartphones. The uniquely designed Backflip began selling through AT&T Wireless late last week, and the Detour is now available from Verizon Wireless.
The 3G/Wi-Fi Backflip, at $99 after rebate and with a two-year contract, is gaining a lot of attention for its unique flip-out QWERTY keyboard, which AT&T has described as "an original reverse flip design."
By flipping the keyboard backward, the device can be set up in tabletop mode for listening to music, looking at videos and photos, or acting as a digital alarm clock. There's also a five-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, a full HTML browser, and AT&T's Backtrack. The carrier describes Backtrack as "a new way to scroll through the web, texts, e-mails, and news feeds," which the user can do without clogging up the home screen.
MOTOBLUR, available on both the Backflip and the Devour, has also become a differentiating factor for Motorola. It's a social-networking service that streams the user's messages, posts, tweets, pictures and contacts so multiple applications don't need to be opened.
Socially active users can also send broadcast messages to multiple friends at once through multiple apps. The social information is delivered automatically to customizable, live widgets on the home screen, where Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are synced together.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said Backflip's form factor and hyper-social MOTOBLUR will attract more attention from the average consumer than its use of Android.
The keyboard, he said, "opens the wrong way," and it "takes a little time to get used to." But, he added, the benefits of this design include a trackpad on the back of the keyboard, so a user can navigate...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Microsoft Sparks Flurry of Interest in Rival Browsers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72047
Rivals of Microsoft's market-leading Web browser have attracted a flurry of interest since the company, fulfilling a regulatory requirement, started making it easier for European users of its Windows operating system to switch.
Mozilla, whose Firefox browser is the strongest competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer worldwide, said that more than 50,000 people had downloaded Firefox via a "choice screen" that has been popping up on Windows-equipped computers in Europe since the end of last month. The screen displays links to a dozen browsers, including Explorer, Firefox, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Opera.
Opera Software, based in Oslo, said downloads of its browser in Belgium, France, Britain, Poland and Spain had tripled since the screen began to appear.
"It's definitely being taken up, so consumers are paying attention and taking advantage of the choice being offered to them," said Thomas Vinje, legal counsel to the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a lobbying group based in Brussels whose members include Opera.
It was Opera's complaint to the European Commission that gave rise to an antitrust case against Microsoft that resulted in the company's agreement last year to promote greater browser choice.
Microsoft said it was too early to tell whether the choice screen might prompt significant numbers of users to change. The digital ballot is being delivered over the Internet with software updates, and it is expected to take until mid-May to complete the process. The browser choice will also be presented to buyers of new Windows computers across the European Union for five years.
The commission has not publicly set targets for browser downloads or market shares. It said Friday that it had not yet received any results, though Microsoft has pledged to keep it informed.
The initiative is intended to address the commission's finding that Microsoft unfairly packaged Explorer with Windows, the operating system used on a...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
First iPad Marketing Focuses on Multiple Functions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72033
Apple ran its first iPad commercial during the Academy Awards on Sunday night. The 30-second advertisement shows the tablet computer sitting on an unidentified man's lap as he whisks through the features and functions in veteran style.
Apple's latest computing innovation will hit store shelves on April 3, but the commercial offered a closer look at what Apple CEO Steve Jobs calls "something completely new" and "magical" and "revolutionary." The iPad will start at $499 and lets users browse the web, read and send e-mail, view and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read books, and more.
"Is Apple cranking the marketing machine? Absolutely. Is this hype? I would say no," said Avi Greengart, a senior analyst at Current Analysis. "The press release calls this a magical device. The commercial shows off what it can do. Apple believes they have created products that have unique value propositions, and then they create television advertising that shows off those value propositions."
While Apple's Mac ads choose one particular feature and fire away at the competition, and iPhone ads are basically 30-second tutorials that demonstrate a scenario consumers may experience and show how the product helps, the iPad commercial took a different approach.
"With the iPad commercial, Apple is showing off all the different things the device can do. They show it being used as an e-book reader. They show it being used as a movie viewing device. They show it being used as a photo frame. They show it being used a web browser, but it's all product all the time," Greengart said. "This isn't some pale-faced woman exuding Zen. This is not an ad where you have someone extolling how cool they are for having the product."
He isn't sure why Apple's competitors don't take a similar approach with their product...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Palm Shares Keep Plunging Amid Competition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72023
Investors have been selling shares of Palm Inc. at a rapid pace this year, worried that the company won't be able to turn its business around with new smart phones because of fierce competition from Apple and BlackBerry.
The stock has lost nearly 40 percent of its value so far this year. On Thursday it fell 22 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $6.05 in afternoon trading. Shares of rival Research in Motion Ltd., meanwhile, have risen nearly 4 percent year-to-date.
Palm has been looking to revamp its business with its new Pre and Pixi phones. But it faces tough competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry and Motorola Inc.'s Droid. Last month, Palm said it expects sales this year to be "well below" its earlier outlook of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. It also gave a revenue forecast for the fiscal third quarter, which ended in February, that was well short of Wall Street estimates.
Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton sees the stock falling as far as $4 in the short term, since not even the stock's cheap valuation is enough reason for investors to dive in.
To make a comeback, Palm will need to improve its marketing efforts and launch strong hardware, according to the analyst.
"Everyone has universally accepted that the software is great," said Thornton in an interview. "(But) the hardware just doesn't stand out."
Coupled with lackluster marketing, the company has fallen behind its competitors. Motorola has done a much better job marketing the Droid, for example.
Thornton rates Palm "Neutral" with a target price of $6.50.
"I think they've got one more shot," he said. "Competition is only getting tougher. One more slip-up in the way of ho-hum hardware design and it's going to be lights out."
Tue, 9 Mar 10
Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Is a Blast
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72020
For the last few years, Activision's "Call of Duty" series has dominated video-game warfare. The latest chapter, "Modern Warfare 2," was the best-selling game of 2009, and it still leads the list of Xbox Live's most-played titles, joined in the top five by two earlier "CoD" releases.
But Activision did not exactly invent the war game, and almost every major publisher in the industry is competing in the genre. Electronic Arts may be the most aggressive, with three franchises -- "Army of Two," "Battlefield" and the rebooted "Medal of Honor" -- taking on the champ this year.
"Battlefield: Bad Company 2" (Electronic Arts, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99) has a good chance of dethroning "Call of Duty." It looks terrific. Its single-player campaign is more entertaining, and coherent, than that of "Modern Warfare 2." Its developer, Sweden's DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment), has been refining team-based online combat since its 2002 landmark, "Battlefield 1942."
"BC2" isn't quite a sequel, since it pretty much ignores the events of 2008's "Battlefield: Bad Company." But the characters are the same: Weary veteran Sarge, jittery techie Sweetwater and chatty redneck Haggard round out your squad. Stereotypes all, but their conversations are often quite funny and provide a genuine sense of camaraderie.
Your own character, Marlowe, is the strong, silent type, and since he is such a cipher, he can accommodate any style of play. I like to hang back and snipe enemies from a distance, but you can play Marlowe as a run-and-gun berserker. The artificial intelligence of your squadmates is impressive, and they will back up whatever strategy you prefer.
The guys are racing against the Russians to find a mysterious weapon of mass destruction. (You know, the Cold War never ended in video-game land.) The pursuit takes place mainly across South America, which offers a...
Tue, 9 Mar 10
With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Makes 'Clean Break'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72019
Microsoft Corp. has said its new software for smart phones, Windows Phone 7 series, is a "clean break" with the past. Now it's clear just how clean that break is: The new phones, expected late this year, won't run any applications written for older versions of Microsoft's phone software.
In a blog post Thursday, Microsoft executive Charlie Kindel, who handles contact with outside software developers, said that jettisoning support for older applications was necessary to make the new operating system as powerful and user-friendly as possible.
The announcement is perhaps most disappointing to companies that have created their own software to run on Windows phones issued to their employees. The news also leaves software developers with a dilemma: they can write applications for Windows Mobile 6.5, which will soon be a dead end, or they can write for Windows Phone 7, which isn't coming out until later this year.
Phone providers compete in part by providing support for as many applications as they can, and everyone is trying to catch up to Apple Inc.'s successful App Store, which has more than 100,000 applications. Microsoft is leaving behind tens of thousands of applications written for different versions of Windows Mobile that go back more than a decade.
Few of those applications are up to today's standards. They're also designed for phones that came with styluses for precise input. Windows Phone 7 Series is designed for touch screens that work well with fingers but don't work with fine styluses.
Palm Inc. made a similar "clean break" last year, abandoning an operating system that was more than a decade old in favor of a completely new one. However, the new system is able to run applications written for the old one.
Kindel said Microsoft still will support Windows Mobile 6.5 "for years to come," and expects some new devices...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Apple's Suit Would Block HTC's HD2 Windows 7 Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72028
Apple is attempting to put the brakes on one of the first Windows Phone 7 Series smartphones. Apple's suit against HTC would block the company from releasing its HD2 mobile phone equipped with Microsoft's new mobile operating system in the U.S.
Apple's complaint before the U.S. International Trade Commission would stop the Taiwan-based HTC from importing some of its 7 Series phones into the U.S.
HTC has created some buzz recently for the HD2 phone. The device is the first Windows phone equipped with HTC Sense, a sensor used to prevent false screen touches when the device is picked up to answer or make a phone call. The device also includes a light sensor that adjusts brightness automatically.
Why all the concern? Apple thinks the HD2 is similar to its iPhone, observers say. The HD2 has a high-resolution, 4.3-inch capacitive touch display. The super-thin phone also features a one-gigahertz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm and will use T-Mobile's 3G network.
At the core of Apple's complaint is a claim that HTC has infringed on 20 patents covering various technologies that Apple said relate to the iPhone's interface, architecture and hardware.
Although HTC is based in Taiwan, it has U.S. headquarters in Bellevue, Wash. And some of the patents questioned in the lawsuit were likely developed in HTC's Seattle research and development lab.
"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
The lawsuit could affect not only the manufacturers and software providers, but carriers, too. T-Mobile USA could be hurt by the lawsuit, as HTC announced it has exclusive selling rights to the HD2.
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Google Challenges MS Office with DocVerse Purchase
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72027
Google delivered the latest salvo in its battle to wrest control from Microsoft over office productivity with its purchase of DocVerse, a Microsoft Office collaboration startup. The Wall Street Journal reported the purchase price was $25 million.
DocVerse was founded in 2007 by former Microsoft executives Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui. The first product is a plug-in for Microsoft Office that allows users of the desktop software to collaborate on Office documents.
"DocVerse offers the first-ever product to truly enable real-time sharing and editing of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. Its key advantage is that it does not require you to learn a new way to work by seamlessly plugging into Microsoft Office," the company says on its web site.
Announcing the purchase on a company blog, Jonathan Rochelle, group product manager for the Google Apps team, praised DocVerse as a "small, nimble team of talented developers who share our vision, and they've enabled true collaboration right within Microsoft Office. With DocVerse, people can begin to experience some of the benefits of web-based collaboration using the traditional Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint desktop applications."
"Google Apps have been about collaboration, but this will make it easier for people who work within Microsoft Outlook and Office to adopt Google Docs," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Research.
In their blog announcement, Sinha and DeNeui said they started the company at a time when it was becoming clear that a new paradigm for productivity apps was emerging. "The world started moving toward easy-to-use web applications, like Google Docs & Apps, offering a new way to work with all kinds of benefits," they said. "However, for the many people who use desktop software, like Microsoft Office, transitioning to the cloud was a challenge."
Microsoft's strategy has been Windows Live Workspace -- a way...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Ballmer Sees Innovation as the Key To Search Success
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72026
With its search-engine deal with Yahoo approved by regulators, Microsoft is gearing up for another run at challenging Google's commanding market lead. But with comScore reporting Yahoo and Microsoft had 17 percent and 11.3 percent shares of the U.S. search market in January, the partnership will need to do some heavy lifting to dent Google's 65.4 percent share.
Still, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he thinks the deal with Yahoo will greatly improve the relevance of advertising placed next to search results, which benefits advertisers and users alike.
"The relevance of advertising depends heavily on the density of bids," Ballmer told the Search Marketing Expo West this week. "And the ability to put together Yahoo's volumes and Microsoft's volumes and use that in a way that improves the experience more -- let's call it all involved parties -- we think is absolutely fantastic."
For advertisers, Ballmer noted, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal means more eyeballs in one campaign. "On top of that, we think there's a huge advantage to scale, just in terms of our ability to get more signals [and] do more tests," he added.
What's more, Ballmer thinks the greater scale and volume from the deal will help Microsoft improve the relevance of results for search-engine users. He also expressed confidence that Microsoft will find game-changing opportunities by innovating in the areas of mobile phones, social networking, and real-time computing.
"We may only have our little 11 percent market share, but ... we've been hiring a lot of great people and we're trying to continue to push forward with great ideas," Ballmer told University of Washington students Thursday.
Still, Ballmer admitted that Microsoft hasn't figured out how to refashion its business search model. "We've done some experiments with Cashback and some other things, but...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Apple Boots Wi-Fi-Finder Apps with Private APIs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72025
Makers of some applications that seek out Wi-Fi access are now seeking a new home after Apple purged a select group from its App Store. In a blog post this week, 3Jacks Software said it is the latest developer to get the boot from the increasingly choosy App Store.
"We received a very unfortunate e-mail today from Apple stating that WiFi-Where has been removed from sale on the App Store for using private frameworks to access wireless information," said 3Jacks. "It also appears that all other competing Wi-Fi-enabled apps have been removed as well. This is very unfortunate as the past two-three months have seen a handful of new Wi-Fi apps get approved. Hopefully Apple will allow this functionality in a future SDK."
Other Wi-Fi-seeking apps that will now seek a new home include WiFiFoFum, and yFy Network Finder, according to reports.
House cleaners at the App Store seem to be pretty busy these days. Late last month came word that some applications with racy themes had been booted, and around the same time some location-finder programs that collect user data also got the heave-ho.
Apple hasn't made a public statement about the Wi-Fi exclusions and didn't respond to our request for comment as of publication time.
But Current Analysis research director Avi Greengart, citing information from Apple, said the company's action was consistent with its policy against programs that use private application programming interfaces.
"The Wi-Fi-finder apps using private APIs have been pulled from the store for violating Apple's policy of not allowing private APIs, while Wi-Fi-finder apps that do not violate these terms are still available in the App Store," Greengart told us.
A non-published interface is a violation of Apple's terms of agreement with developers, and the company has long weeded out private-API applications because of security and compatibility issues.
But in December,...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Yep, the iPad Will Be Delayed -- But Only a Few Days
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72024
Apple's iPad tablet will go on sale a few days later than originally announced -- a fact that is attracting attention. The company announced Friday that the Wi-Fi version will be released for sale on April 3 in the U.S. At the iPad announcement in January, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company said the product would ship in late March.
There have been rumors that the sale date was pushed back to accommodate an unspecified production problem. The 3G version goes on sale in late April, and preordering for either model in the U.S. begins in a week.
For countries outside the U.S. in the first rollout -- Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom -- both versions will ship in late April.
"Oh, no!" said Current Analysis Avi Greengart in mock horror at the sale date slipping by a few days. He added, "if people are horrified by a delay of a few days, interest is obviously pretty high."
The question is whether that level of interest will reshape the landscape of Apple's competitors, just as Apple legendarily did with the release of the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone. That landscape currently includes the emerging categories of netbooks, e-readers, and other tablet computers, with a flurry of product announcements and releases in the last few months as competitors try to position themselves vis-a-vis Apple.
The iPad, with a 9.7-inch LCD touchscreen, is optimized for movies, games, books, web browsing, and other media. There's a built-in calendar and address book, access to iTunes, a built-in e-mail client, and an on-screen QWERTY keyboard. There is also a new iPad Keyboard Dock so the user can employ a regular keyboard.
Greengart said he has "high hopes" for iPad sales, and he envisioned that "future versions will sell even better" once...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
YouTube Rolls Out Auto-Captioning for Hearing Impaired
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72015
To improve accessibility for the hearing impaired, YouTube on Thursday rolled out auto-captioning for all users. The video site initiated the project in 2008 and opened it up to a small group of users last November.
Auto-captioning combines some of the speech-to-text algorithms found in Google's Voice Search to automatically generate video captions. The video owner can also download the auto-generated captions, improve them, and upload the new version. Viewers will soon be able to choose an option to translate those captions into any one of 50 different languages, explained YouTube Product Manager Hiroto Tokusei.
"Tens of millions of people in the U.S. experience some kind of hearing impairment and recent studies have predicted that over 700 million people worldwide will suffer from hearing impairment by 2015," Tokusei said. "To address a clear need, the broadcast industry began running captions on regular video programming in the early 1970s. Today, closed captions on video are more prevalent than ever. But generating captions today can be a time-consuming and complicated process."
YouTube is working to remove the barriers with auto-captions. If the video owner doesn't initially choose to auto-generate the captions, YouTube is making it possible for viewers to request caption processing with a button next to uncaptioned videos. Any video owner can click the button if they want to speed up the availability of auto-captions.
"This is of course a great thing for the deaf and hearing impaired. But it also illustrates how Google often uses its technology for multiple goals or products," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "Speech recognition was first rolled out in Goog 411. Over time that effort helped Google refine the product to do voice search and other voice functions on the iPhone and Android devices. This is yet another product of that same technology,...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Light Patch Tuesday Won't Include VBScript Vulnerability
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72014
After a record-matching February that flooded corporate security departments with 13 bulletins to address 26 flaws, Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday cycle will be more manageable for IT administrators. On March 9, Microsoft will ship two security updates to fix eight vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.
In its monthly advance notification, Microsoft gave a sneak peak into the bulletins. Both are marked important, Microsoft's second-highest severity rating.
But despite not earning critical status, the flaws are hardly benign. The eight vulnerabilities Microsoft outlined could open the door to attackers to insert malicious code onto unpatched computers.
The first bulletin will fix vulnerabilities in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. This bulletin also affects the most recent service packs for XP and Vista, SP2 and SP3. Microsoft said both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of these operating systems have the important bugs. The second bulletin will tackle bugs in Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007 on Windows, as well as Excel 2004 and Excel 2008 for the Mac and some Excel issues in Office service packs.
From what Paul Henry, a security and forensic analyst at Lumension, has seen, it doesn't appear that the bulletins released will address all the issues in the wild.
"Interestingly, Microsoft also announced some end-of-life dates of Windows XP, so customers will soon have to start updating these operating systems, which include Windows XP Service Pack 2, as they will no longer be supported after July 13, 2010," Henry said. "Customers are being encouraged to upgrade to Service Pack 3 or to Windows 7 as soon as possible."
On Monday, customers were alerted to a VBScript vulnerability that was exposed on supported versions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 through the use of Internet Explorer. But Microsoft's March patches will not address...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Management Shakeup: Infinity Ward Execs Exit Activision
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72008
Activision Blizzard Inc. said Tuesday that Jason West and Vince Zampella, executives at "Call of Duty" developer Infinity Ward, are no longer with the company.
Zampella had served as CEO at Infinity Ward, and West as chief technology officer, among other titles.
Activision also said it plans to form a new business unit around the "Call of Duty" franchise, focusing on online content and expanding the brand.
The shake-up comes a day after Activision said it was looking into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at its Infinity Ward studio.
Activision did not name West and Zampella in Monday's regulatory filing. But the filing said the company expected the "departure of key personnel" as a result.
Infinity Ward did not make every "Call of Duty" title. But it was behind the original game and the latest installment, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," which broke entertainment records last year when it made $550 million in worldwide sales during its first five days. By January, it crossed the $1 billion mark.
Activision said Tuesday it plans to release a "Call of Duty" game developed by Treyarch this fall. That studio had been behind less successful games in the franchise.
The company also plans a new "Call of Duty" for 2011 from another studio.
Philip Earl, who currently runs Activision Publishing's Asia Pacific region, will head the Call of Duty business unit.
Activision Publishing executives Steve Pearce, chief technology officer and Steve Ackrich, head of production, will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis, the company added.
Shawn Milne, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets, said while having the top developers leave the company is "a new risk."
"A greater risk would be whether or not the two heads end up taking more talent away from (Activision), or the whole team leaves," he said in a note to investors.
Still, he...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Mobile Cameras Help Police Find Stolen Cars
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72003
A growing number of police departments are turning to mobile camera systems to fight motor vehicle theft and identify unregistered cars.
The cameras read license plates of parked and moving cars -- hundreds per minute -- and check them against vehicle databases, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which purchased several systems for its police vehicles last fall.
Departments in Denver and Colorado Springs; South Portland, Maine; Gwinnett, Douglas and Cherokee counties in Georgia; and Clinton, Conn., are planning to deploy or have already added License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems this year, officials from those agencies said.
Also, about 40 law enforcement agencies in the Washington, D.C., metro area are deploying LPRs this year, according to Nate Maloney, a spokesman for their supplier, ELSAG of Brewster, N.Y. The district has had them since 2005, he said.
Newark, Albany County, N.Y., and Ann Arbor, Mich., added them in 2009 using federal stimulus funds, according to recovery.gov.
Last October, Lt. Scott Burke of the Portsmouth, Va., Police Department said he took one of their new systems out for a test, and in 33 minutes got a "hit" on a sedan reported stolen in a carjacking.
"We called in the troops, made an arrest, and the vehicle was returned to the owner," Burke said. "That was way cool."
Mark Windover, CEO of ELSAG, one of several companies selling the camera systems, said they can also help in AMBER Alert child searches.
Elsewhere:
*Norwalk, Conn. Police Lt. David Wrinn said the department deployed three LPRs in September and recovered seven stolen cars, found six stolen plates being used illegally and tracked down four missing or suicidal people by November.
*Louisville. Metro Police have used the technology since early 2007, said Lt. James Mueller, especially during big events such as the Kentucky Derby, when large crowds increase the potential for...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Data Security Concerns Dominate CeBIT in Germany
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Data security issues dominated the CeBIT trade fair, which began a five-day run in Germany Tuesday with its main focus on business software to run banks, laboratories, warehouses and other enterprises.
Anti-virus company Symantec warned that malware -- software designed to cause damage -- was now mounting 8 million attacks daily against Internet users, while 13,000 new Web sites went online every day with spyware waiting to catch out visitors.
Ilias Chantzos, a Symantec executive, said, "The numbers keep rising all the time." These days hackers, were even trying to interfere with municipal traffic lights, he warned. Symantec makes Norton anti-virus software.
Web search firm Google defended itself against allegations by German politicians that photographs of homes and offices might assist burglars and snoopers.
It said its Street View service, part of Google Maps and showing panorama images of 19 nations already, was legal under German law and would show German road frontages by the end of this year.
On the same day, German exhibitors were shaken by a court ruling that current police access to phone company call records is too lax.
Phone companies said at the fair they faced vast expense if they had to retain data on the times and destinations of phone calls with even tighter security, as the German constitutional court demanded. They demanded the German government pay the added cost.
European Union law requires phone companies to keep logs in case they are needed for anti-terrorism and serious crime inquiries.
CeBIT, which runs from Tuesday to Saturday, has about 4,150 exhibitors attending this year, only half as many as it had at its peak nine years ago.
This time round many pavilions are empty and consumer-electronics products are rare at the event, which focuses on corporate buyers.
A remote pavilion one was handed over for performances by up-and-coming German rock bands in the faint...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Charging Fees for Hulu Comes at a Price
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71995
Hulu's days as a free online video site could be ending soon.
Comedy Central's decision to yank two of the most popular shows on Hulu -- "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" -- in a dispute over splitting ad revenue is the latest blow to the entertainment industry's attempts to make money off ads that run with free video.
Yet Hulu's most viable alternative -- charging for access to some videos -- could turn off viewers and crimp the site's explosive growth. Ultimately, the remedy to Hulu's current troubles could leave the site even worse off, a poor shadow of its former self.
Many viewers are drawn to Hulu because of its ease of use, not because they couldn't get much of the same content elsewhere. Hulu's videos simply aren't exclusive enough -- compared with, say, Time Warner Inc.'s premium HBO cable channel.
If Hulu charges for a TV show or movie, the viewer could simply watch it over the air live, be more consistent about recording it to view later or catch the program for free through a video-on-demand service offered by cable TV and other providers.
"There are very few people who would be willing to pay for it," said Bruce Leichtman, president of the Leichtman Research Group Inc. in Durham, N.H.
He noted that viewers could simply ask themselves, "Why would I pay for it when I can get it on video on demand?"
Chase Carey, chief operating officer of Hulu co-owner News Corp., has said that the site would have to start charging for some video eventually, though he and other officials have been mum about when that would happen and what aspects would remain free.
Hulu has had trouble turning a profit because it doesn't pull in enough revenue to pay for operations. Online ads simply don't generate as much revenue as...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
NATO Chief Warns of Threats in Cyberspace
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NATO is facing new threats in cyberspace that cannot be met by lining up soldiers and tanks, the alliance's secretary-general said Thursday in an apparent reference to terror groups and criminal networks.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there were several international actors who want "to know what's going on inside NATO, and they also use cyberspace to achieve their goals."
He refused to give details or name groups except to say there were "many of them."
"It's really a broad range of threats. There are many actors in cyberspace, and we have to develop a capacity to protect ourselves against those attacks," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters on the sidelines of a one-day NATO seminar in Helsinki.
The alliance has been reticent to discuss its actions in countering cyberattacks and threats, but was prompted to tackle the problem after hackers unleashed a wave of attacks against NATO-member Estonia three years ago.
The barrage crippled dozens of government and corporate sites in what is one of Europe's most wired countries. It prompted NATO to enhance its cyber war capabilities and to establish the alliance's cyber defense research center in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, in 2008.
The organization also set up an agency to manage cyber defense across NATO's communication and information systems and to help members in defending against cyberattacks.
Fogh Rasmussen reiterated that "the core function" of the alliance would still be to defend its members' territories and populations. But in modernizing the alliance, "it's not sufficient to line up soldiers and tanks and military along the borders. You really have to address the threat at its roots, and it might be in cyberspace."
Thursday's seminar, on increasing strategic cooperation between NATO and its partners, was chaired by the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden -- both non-NATO members that work closely with the alliance.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said...
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Olympic Games Continues Online Journey
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71985
After 17 rousing days and the sight of Canadians throughout the Great White North celebrating Sunday's Gold Medal hockey victory and the country's record medal haul, all good things moose-t come to an end. Time to look forward to London, to Sochi, and to Rio. Trade that Molson's for a pint, a shot of vodka, a caipirinha.
As an estimated 3.5 billion viewers in 200 territories did during the worldwide fortnight in Vancouver, it is likely that we'll all be viewing the upcoming Games in England, Russia, and Brazil digitally. Through last Monday night, the NBC Olympics mobile site and iTunes app generated 58.2 million page views, according to the network, up 68 percent from the entire 17-day total of 34.7 million for the Beijing Games. Yahoo! saw 18.1 million unique users and 103 million page views, far outpacing NBCOlympics.com.
Will the 2014 games still be seen on the Peacock Network? According to a Sports Business Journal report, the IOC has not been able to generate significant interest in 2014 and 2016 U.S. TV rights. Of the media outlets that could submit bids, CBS and Fox Sports did not make the trip to Vancouver, Turner Broadcasting still hasn't committed to bidding, and ESPN hinted that its final offer would be less than the $2.1 billion NBC paid for Beijing and Vancouver.
Regardless of which broadcaster ends up with the rights to the Sochi and Rio games, the U.S. appears to be playing much more nicely with the IOC. The Chicago Tribune notes that the IOC seems to be "celebrating the U.S. success." IOC President Jacques Rogge was quoted as saying: "If the U.S. comes first by whatever count, they will claim a victory and that would be good for them and the Olympic movement."
With Team USA's...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
McAfee: System Security Is Weak Despite Locked Doors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72013
Evidence from the recent Aurora hack attacks on major American corporations suggest that many may have tightly locked virtual front doors, but no cybersecurity inside their systems, a McAfee expert warned on Wednesday. In a Security Insights blog post, Paul Kurtz, McAfee's chief technology officer, discussed his study of the December-through-February attacks on Google, Intel, Adobe Systems, and other large firms.
He concluded that "Many organizations have tight security around financial systems and other mission-critical systems, but leave their intellectual-property repositories broadly accessible. The company might have strong perimeter security, but once you're in, the [source code] is readily available."
The Aurora attack, named for what is assumed to be the hackers' internal reference to the operation based on malware findings, is believed to have originated in China. The incident has strained relations between the U.S. and Chinese governments and caused Google to reconsider its presence there. The Wall Street Journal reported that as many as 100 companies may have been targeted.
Kurtz said the hackers "went after the crown jewels of the targeted companies, their intellectual property." To do so, they likely tried to gain access to source-code management systems used internally to manage projects. Once they cracked the systems, they would be free to steal the code or implant malicious code.
Kurtz and McAfee's Stuart McClure discussed their findings at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, but didn't say whether Google or other companies lost their source code in the attack, according to the Journal. The two have published a white paper on their research available to companies on McAfee's web site.
Data security is one of the fastest-growing technology sectors, with a 53 percent rise in open security positions in the second half of 2009, according to Barclay Simpson's annual market report.
"This is one of...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
To Call or To Game? Sony Plans a PlayStation Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72012
Japanese electronics giant Sony has been busy developing new handheld devices in an effort to better compete in the mobile market. Under way is a suite of new devices, including a PlayStation game-playing phone.
For decades Sony has kept its focus on consumer electronics. When the company wanted to compete in the mobile-phone market, it formed a joint venture with Ericsson. Now Sony is expanding its presence in the smartphone and portable-device market.
Engineers at Sony are developing a smartphone capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, according to published reports. Also reported under way is the development of a portable device with similarities to Apple's iPad tablet computer with features seen on netbooks, e-readers and its own PlayStation Portable.
"As already announced, Sony (including [Sony Computer Entertainment]) and Sony Ericsson have been strengthening their collaboration in the networked mobile space," said Julie Han, a Sony spokesperson. "However, it is not our strategy to discuss future products or business plans before we make a formal announcement."
There has been speculation for some time about Sony developing a PlayStation phone, but the question has always been whether Sony or Sony Ericsson would release it and how it would compete against existing and new devices with similar capabilities.
"Sony has rejected this idea in the past, but in an age where the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and products like Windows Phone 7 Series all have gaming as a core feature, it's time for Sony to rethink their mobile strategy and just who they're competing with these days," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group.
What would make more sense for Sony would be to market the device under Sony Ericsson, said Carolina Milanesi, a research director at Gartner.
"I doubt Sony will come out with something that has integrated cellular not under the...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Homeland Chief Outlines U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72011
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano outlined the steps DHS is taking to secure cyberspace at the RSA Conference 2010 in San Francisco on Wednesday. The former governor of Arizona also called upon experts and the public to contribute ideas to improve the nation's cybersecurity.
"All Americans have an important role to play in securing our computer systems and cyber networks," Napolitano said. "We are challenging our nation's best and brightest to utilize their expertise and creativity to devise new ways to engage the public in the shared responsibility of safeguarding our cyber resources and information."
In her keynote address, Napolitano stressed DHS's dedication to recruiting and retaining the cybersecurity employees needed to confront terrorist and criminal threats. Moreover, she emphasized the department's commitment to supporting innovations such as EINSTEIN -- an intrusion detection program originally developed by US-CERT, the department's computer emergency readiness team.
"In the past year we've deployed the second phase of EINSTEIN to 11 federal agencies, and we will be growing to 21 this year," Napolitano noted. "And now we are testing the technology for the third phase of EINSTEIN," which will give DHS "the ability to detect malicious activity and disable attempted intrusions before harm is done to our critical systems."
Ensuring U.S. government continuity as well as private-sector services and information -- even as it protects privacy -- are among the important tasks DHS now faces, Napolitano said. To meet these challenges, DHS has developed "a national cybersecurity incident response plan in full collaboration with the private sector" that will be tested during an exercise in September.
What's more, DHS efforts continue to focus on "providing the ability to bounce back even more quickly should a large-scale attack -- or really an attack of any size -- occur," Napolitano said. To this end,...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Court Upholds TiVo's DVR Patent Against Satellite Rivals
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72009
TiVo on Thursday won a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling against major satellite operators in a long-standing intellectual-property battle. The court ruled that Dish Network and EchoStar still infringe on TiVo's patent and should stop offering DVR services.
The appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling that the satellite broadcasters are violating TiVo's patent despite their claims that they had altered their technology sufficiently. In a 2-1 decision, the court said changes made after Dish lost the first trial were "not a major redesign of the software."
TiVo said it was pleased that the appeals court affirmed the district court's finding of contempt against EchoStar, including both the disablement and infringement provisions.
"This ruling paves the way for TiVo to receive the approximately $300 million in damages and contempt sanctions awarded to us for EchoStar's continued infringement through July 1, 2009," TiVo said. "We will also seek further damages and contempt sanctions for the period of continued infringement thereafter. We will continue our efforts to protect our intellectual property from further infringement."
Defending TiVo's IP in court is vital to the company, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "This ruling reaffirms TiVo's market position and assures its technology, which is important for any company," he said. "Given how widespread this DVR capability is, it's particularly important to TiVo."
"Given EchoStar's refusal to disable the DVR functionality in its existing devices and the fact that its original attempts to design around TiVo's patent were wholly unsuccessful, the district court had ample justification for its determination that court preapproval of any new design-around effort was necessary to prevent future infringing activity," the appeals court said.
Dish and EchoStar aren't going down without a fight. The companies said they plan to ask the 12-member appeals court to rehear...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Despite Denial, iPad Production Numbers Look Low
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72004
Despite an analyst's report that Apple is experiencing production delays on the iPad, which is supposed to hit stores at the end of March, Apple's Taiwanese supplier insists production is on track to deliver 600,000 to 700,000 iPads and another million in April.
Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek said earlier this week that iPad production could be limited to 300,000 in March and 800,000 in April. He also suggested Apple could limit the initial launch to the United States and even delay the product launch a month because of the production delays.
Technology site DigiTimes, however, reported that Foxconn Electronics, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the iPad, and its component manufacturers are on schedule to meet the targets for March and April, and said the launch will not be delayed.
On the other hand, analyst Vijay Rakesh of ThinkEquity said in a research note that checks indicate production is running slower than expected. "The manufacturing of the iPads was supposed to pick up in February, but volumes in March are still low," Rakesh wrote. "But checks are indicating iPad volumes will pick back up to the 800,000-1 million units/month [range] into April-May from the current 200-250K. We believe this is just a minor hiccup in a longer-term entirely new revenue stream and product road map for AAPL."
Those numbers align with Misek's estimate of 300,000 in the late March time frame and 800,000 in April. Rakesh said the delays are not related to glass or manufacturing processes. Tim Bajarin, principal analyst for Creative Strategies, said the analysts' numbers are "reasonable."
Shortage or not, there is "already strong pent-up demand for this product from early adopters," Bajarin said. "This will drive the first wave of sales. Our estimate is that Apple will sell at least two million iPads in 2010, with the...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Hollywood Wins as Real Drops DVD-Copying Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71993
Score one for Hollywood. RealNetworks agreed this week to settle lawsuits with major movie and TV studios for its RealDVD product, which allows users to copy DVDs onto hard drives.
As part of the settlement, RealNetworks will pay the studios $4.5 million to cover legal costs. In its announcement, RealNetworks said all parties have agreed to the "terms of a permanent injunction that will prohibit RealNetworks from distributing or supporting RealDVD or any other technology that enables the duplication of copyrighted content protected by the Content Scramble System, ArccOS or RipGuard."
Bob Kimball, RealNetworks president and acting CEO, said that, "until this dispute," his company had enjoyed a good relationship with Hollywood. He added that Real was "pleased to put this litigation behind us."
The agreement involves six major Hollywood movie studios, Viacom and the DVD Copy Control Association, as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). In addition to the payment for legal expenses and abandoning RealDVD or any similar product, RealNetworks agreed to abandon its claims against the studios.
Daniel Manil, General Counsel for MPAA, told news media that the settlement affirms that "it is illegal to bypass the copyright protections built into DVDs designed to protect movies against theft."
In August, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued a preliminary injunction against RealDVD. She declared at the time that the product would likely be found to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Content Scramble System (CSS) license.
The MPAA said the Millennium act prohibits any technology that could be used to "circumvent measures" protecting copyrighted content. The CSS license, issued by the DVD Copy Control Association, bars companies from making technology to copy DVDs.
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, wasn't surprised that RealNetworks settled. He noted that Judge...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Gesture Search Finds Info By Drawing Letters on a Screen
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71992
As the smartphone world waits to see how the patent battle between Apple and HTC plays out, Google continues to forge ahead with mobile innovations. On Wednesday Google announced yet another application for its Android mobile operating system that adds a new twist to smartphone searches.
As Google sees it, sometimes typing to get the right search suggestion takes too long -- and speaking a query through the voice options may not be best in a quiet room. Enter Gesture Search, an experimental application from Google Labs that works with Android-powered devices running Android 2.0 and above in the U.S.
"Gesture Search lets you quickly find a contact, an installed application, a bookmark, or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items by simply drawing alphabet gestures on the touchscreen," explained Google Research Scientist Yang Li.
If you want to call your friend Kim, you would open Gesture Search and draw the letter K on the touchscreen with your finger. Gesture Search would then offer up a list of items that have words starting with the letter K. You can either scroll down the list of results to find Kim's name or write more letters to refine the search.
What if your handwriting isn't so hot? Google anticipated that. If the K you draw in Gesture Search looks something like a B, then you'll get results for items that begin with both K and B. If you make a mistake of some sort, you can also erase a query by crossing it out horizontally. A gesture running left to right will erase the entire query, while a gesture from right to left removes the last letter or space in the query.
Li said Gesture Search improves search quality by learning from your search history, so Kim's contact info will jump to the top...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Cities Going Gaga for Google Broadband
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71984
Jared Starkey is going all out for Google broadband. The day after Google said it would provide high-speed Internet access to as many as 500,000 people around the U.S., Starkey set up a Facebook page to lobby Google to bring the service to his hometown, Topeka, Kan. Since then, Starkey has passed out bright-orange necklaces made of the kind of fiber-optic cable used to deliver fast Web connections and rallied 100 people to show up at a downtown redevelopment meeting wearing T-shirts that play on Google's motto for the broadband plan. "I've been talking to absolutely everybody about this," says Starkey, owner of a small Web-design company.
Broadband-starved cities and towns across the country are going to great lengths to grab the attention of Mountain View [Calif.]-based Google, which in February said it will set up a network that can deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second, about 20 times faster than the speediest ones sold by Verizon Communications. Google will spend "hundreds of millions" on the effort, Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News.
To set themselves apart, some municipal officials are naming cities after Google, owner of the world's largest Web search engine. The city of Greensboro, N.C., is preparing an "Operation Google" gift package for delivery to Google headquarters and has earmarked $50,000 for promoting a Google broadband effort.
Yet with budgets strapped after the recent recession, many cities are relying on citizen-led grassroots efforts, often through social networks such as Facebook and the microblogging service Twitter. Activists have set up more than 70 Facebook pages to attract Google's attention to cities including Grand Rapids, Mich.; Columbia, Mo.; and Ventura, Calif. Starkey's "Bring Google's Fiber Experiment to Topeka!" page boasts more than 10,900 members.
Google may pay...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Too Sick for the Office? Get To Work Anyway -- at Home!
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71981
Jeremy Lesniak owns a small Web design firm in Randolph, Vt. He has 10 employees and hundreds of clients. Sick isn't an option.
"I have two cell phones and a pager" he said. "I have taken partial sick days or just worked from home, but I haven't had a real one in over six years."
The swine flu epidemic had employers desperately trying to keep sick workers at bay, calling into question companies that didn't. But the economic meltdown has stepped up pressure on worker bees and bosses alike to produce from home rather than heal in bed, said Dave Couper, a career coach and corporate human resources consultant in Los Angeles.
"There's an implicit requirement to be at work -- partly because of the fear of losing your job if you're not there," he said. "Before, companies were OK about people being out sick. Now I don't see that as much. I've known people who have e-mailed from their hospital room or been on conference calls where they can hardly speak they're so sick. The recession has made it worse."
The self-employed -- those with access to technology and connectivity anyway -- and employees in small companies with fewer prospective subs really feel the squeeze with the sneeze.
Ashleigh Harris gives her San Francisco startup, which makes a new type of training wheel for kid bicycles, high marks for flex time. But with only three full-time positions, herself and the CEO included, calling in sick means work languishes.
"Things need to get done when they need to get done when it comes to building a successful startup," said Harris, the marketing director. "So if that means hopping on a conference call from my cell when I'm in bed, or sending a few key e-mails to hit deadlines, I'm more than happy to do it."
Some workers...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Microsoft to Google: You're Monopolistic and I'm Telling
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71980
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer intends to keep the regulatory heat on Google as his company strives to lessen its rival's dominance of Internet search.
In an appearance Tuesday at a search engine conference, Ballmer said Microsoft believes Google Inc. has done things to gain an unfair advantage in the Internet's lucrative search advertising market. He didn't specify the alleged misconduct.
"We are expressing some of the issues and frustrations we see" with antitrust regulators, Ballmer said. "Sometimes (it's) unsolicited, sometimes because we have been asked."
Google declined to comment Tuesday. But it has said its actions are aimed at providing better experiences for Web surfers and advertisers.
Yahoo Inc., which is about to team up with Microsoft in search, seems less inclined to get regulators involved as the two companies gang up on Google.
"I am actually not interested in government intervention in anything," Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz told reporters during a Tuesday lunch to celebrate the company's 15th anniversary. "I think for the most part markets work. I don't wish antitrust on anyone."
Microsoft already has helped convince U.S. regulators that Google would break antitrust laws in two proposed deals: a search advertising partnership with Yahoo that was scrapped in 2008 and a digital books settlement that still needs federal court approval. Yahoo also lobbied regulators to oppose the agreement that would give Google the electronic rights to millions of hard-to-find books.
Ciao, an online shopping comparison service owned by Microsoft, has filed an antitrust complaint against Google in Europe. Regulators there say they are looking into those allegations and similar ones made by two other sites, Foundem and ejustice.fr.
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, has had its own troubles with regulators. Its bundling of personal computer software triggered a court dispute with the U.S. Justice Department that forced the company to change the way...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Yahoo CEO: Turnaround Won't Happen Overnight
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71979
Yahoo Inc. CEO Carol Bartz says she hopes investors growing impatient for her to turn around the slumping Internet company remember how long it took for Steve Jobs to revive Apple Inc.
In a Tuesday meeting to celebrate Yahoo's 15th anniversary, Bartz reminded reporters that Apple still struggled after Jobs became CEO in 1997. That marked his return to a company he had co-founded two decades earlier.
It wasn't until Jobs unveiled the iPod in late 2001 that Apple's profits and stock price began to soar again. Apple has become even more prosperous in the last few years as the company developed ever-sleeker computers and trendy gadgets, such as the iPhone and the iPad, a computer tablet scheduled to hit the market later this month.
Jobs "knew the DNA (at Apple) better than anyone and it took him four years," Bartz said. "I know people want to see magic things happen (at Yahoo). The magic things happening are deep inside our little system here."
Yahoo's stock price has gained nearly 30 percent since Bartz became CEO nearly 14 months ago, even though revenue and earnings have sagged. The shares closed at $15.73 Tuesday, down 6 cents.
Apple's stock price had climbed by about 50 percent 14 months after Jobs' returned as CEO. The shares dipped 14 cents Tuesday to close at $208.85. That's a 37-fold increase from where they stood when Apple named Jobs CEO in September 1997.
Yahoo shareholders will probably be happy if Bartz can push Yahoo's stock price above $33. That's what Microsoft Corp. said it would pay to buy Yahoo in its entirety in May 2008 only to withdraw the bid after Yahoo balked at the offer.
Bartz, 61, is working under a four-year contract that expires in early 2013.
The challenges facing Bartz have been compounded by the worst U.S. recession in 70...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Maine Weighs Cell-Phone Cancer Warning
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71978
Ignoring the health risks of heavy cell phone use invites a cancer epidemic, supporters of a bill requiring manufacturers to put labels on mobile phones and packaging said Tuesday.
"We can do nothing and wait for the body count. That's what happened with smoking" before warnings on cigarette packs were mandated, David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and Environment at the University of Albany, told Maine lawmakers.
The Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on a bill that would make Maine the first state to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, especially among children. Opponents dismissed research pointing to the risks and said the bill is more about politics than science.
The sponsor, Rep. Andrea Boland, said the United States lags behind other countries that have either mandated similar warnings or endorsed policies warning the public about cell phone use.
Carpenter, a Harvard Medical School graduate and researcher with expertise in electromagnetic fields, said the strongest evidence of cell phone dangers comes from Europe, where the devices have been in use longer than in the United States. He told lawmakers that the U.S. "may face an epidemic of brain cancer" if nothing is done to warn consumers of risks.
Boland, D-Sanford, said the risks diminish markedly if the phone is held away from the head.
Olle Johansson, a scientist at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, submitted testimony saying that "very serious biological changes" that include cancer risks have been noticed for years from exposure to low-frequency magnetic fields like those emitted from cell phones.
Supporters also included brain cancer patient and relatives of victims who said the disease was triggered by cell phone use.
"When you put that phone to your head, you are unknowingly playing Russian roulette," said Alan Marks of the San Francisco Bay area, who's been diagnosed with a brain...
Fri, 5 Mar 10
Few Details Emerge in White House Cybersecurity Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71977
The Obama administration on Tuesday gave the public a peek at the Bush administration's classified plan to secure the nation's computer systems, but the newly revealed list of broad goals provided few surprises and key provisions remain secret.
The decision to publish a summary of the cyber initiative on the White House blog came just a month after the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking release of the computer security document.
Privacy advocates and other groups have long fought to get the Bush cyber plan made public, concerned that it discussed surveillance activities and Internet traffic monitoring by intelligence agencies that could violate Americans' personal privacy.
The government's precautions for dealing with cyber security has become a critical national security issue, as U.S. computers have been continually attacked and scanned by hackers, criminals and terrorists looking to steal money, data and state secrets.
U.S. officials and cyber experts have repeatedly warned that the nation is not adequately prepared for a cyber attack. Government and key private computer systems -- such as those that run the electric grid or nuclear power plants -- must be better protected, the critics say.
While the new White House posting did not provide details on the Bush-era classified cyber plan, one privacy group welcomed the public disclosure as a good first step for the Obama White House, which has pledged to run a more open, transparent government.
"The White House should be credited with beginning an important public discussion about the future of cybersecurity," said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director.
Rotenberg added, however, that the entire document still needs to be made public, including the legal authorities the government operates under and the privacy safeguards it employs when scrutinizing Internet traffic for cyber threats.
White House cyber coordinator Howard Schmidt announced the decision to make the...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
AT&T Chief Says iPad Will Mostly Use Wi-Fi Links
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71991
As Apple gets ready to ship its Pads with AT&T as the exclusive U.S. 3G carrier, the wireless giant's CEO seems to be downplaying expectations by saying the tablet computer will be "largely a Wi-Fi-driven product."
The basic iPad with Wi-Fi will sell for $499, and consumers who want 3G connections will have to shell out an extra $130 and pay AT&T $30 per month for unlimited data, or $15 a month for a 250MB plan. They'll also have to wait an extra month for 3G-capable tablets.
At a Morgan Stanley tech investor conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, AT&T's Randall Stephenson said, "My expectation is that there's not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription," according to news reports. Asked if he felt the iPad would strain AT&T's heavily burdened 3G network, Stevenson reportedly said, "I'm anxious to see the customer response and usage ... We think it's going to be a largely Wi-Fi-driven product."
Stephenson may have passed up a chance to build hype for AT&T iPad data -- which Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in January will be available on a monthly basis, contract-free -- but his assessment of low initial interest is on target, says Current Analysis consumer-devices research director Avi Greengart.
"For many people, this is going to be a device they use within the home, and in a disconnected fashion away from the home," said Greengart. "There is no question there is a class of buyer who wants the 3G. But I imagine the initial sales volume will be higher for the lower-priced model."
He added that Stephenson's comments were likely tailored for investment bankers. "If he said that the iPad was going to drive enormous 3G data usage, he'd be fielding questions about CapEx," Greengart said, referring to capital...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
FCC Seeks To Finance $25 Billion Broadband Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71990
The national broadband plan that the Federal Communications Commission submits to Congress later this month is now expected to cost up to $25 billion. But since the nation's lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce the national debt, the FCC is seeking ways to offset the cost through spectrum auctions and other measures.
To have any chance of meeting its goal of providing broadband service to 100 million Americans, the FCC will need to find support for an estimated $9 billion commitment to cover underserved parts of the country, industry observers say. Moreover, the commission wants Congress to spend $12.5 billion to $16 billion over the next 10 years to provide police, firefighters and other emergency workers with wireless Internet access.
"This will better enable public safety to expand upon commercial deployments and obtain the level of coverage they need," wrote Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC's public-safety and homeland security bureau, in a blog. "The end result will be an advanced, widely available, and robust wireless broadband network for the nation's first responders."
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday that the billions of dollars required to implement the national broadband plan must be weighed against the escalating costs that will arise if a large number of Americans continue to be excluded from the broadband economy.
"Five years ago if you wanted to find a job, you got a newspaper and checked the classifieds; now you have to be online," Genachowski told The Washington Post in a video interview. "And as we make progress on making medical records electronic, the costs of not being connected" to the Internet are going "to get higher."
Moreover, studies from the Brookings Institute, MIT, the World Bank, and others "all tell us the same thing," Genachowski noted in a speech before the National...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Accused Spanish Hackers Used a Kit To Take Over PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71989
Spanish authorities say they have nabbed the hackers behind the Mariposa botnet. The botnet, which was developed for large-scale theft of information, took control of more than 13 million computers in 190 nations.
Three Spanish citizens identified by initials, F.C.R., 31, of Balmaseda; J.P.R., 30, of Molina de Segura; and J.B.R., 25, of Santiago de Compostela, were arrested for their role in creating the network, according to the Guardia Civil. The botnet stole personal and sensitive information, including banking and credit-card data, passwords and usernames.
The alleged hackers attracted attention from the FBI, the Guardia Civil, and experts at Panda Security and Georgia Tech's Information Security Center who began monitoring the network last September. During the monitoring, authorities said, one of the three accused hackers logged in without blocking his computer address. His computer was then linked to the other accused hackers.
Authorities discovered 800,000 pieces of personal data on the computer of one of the individuals arrested and expect to make additional arrests, they said.
Mariposa, which means butterfly in Spanish, tapped into tens of thousands of unique networks and infected 50 of the Fortune 500 companies. It also tapped into two of the three American credit bureaus, according to Defence Intelligence, the Canadian company that first discovered the virus.
Mariposa was not categorized by experts as a virus or a Trojan. Instead, the malicious software becomes whatever it is commanded to be by the person or persons controlling the botnet. There are more than 70 variants of the malware, each with a different purpose, according to security experts.
The malware was designed to dodge detection by traditional security measures, including antivirus detection systems.
The Guardia Civil described the accused trio as having no criminal background and little technical skills. Security experts said it took only searching to get the...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Apple's Suit Against HTC Is a Warning To Its Competitors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71987
Apple's patent suit against HTC, filed Tuesday with the International Trade Commission, is just the latest in a string of technology-related complaints filed with the government agency. The trend shows the increasing importance of the ITC.
Apple alleges that Taiwan-based HTC infringes on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's graphical user interface, architecture and hardware. The company is seeking a permanent injunction barring HTC from importing infringing phones into the U.S. Apple is also seeking triple damages and maximum interest.
Apple sued in the U.S. District Court in Delaware concurrently with bringing the ITC action.
The complaint serves as fair warning that Apple will attack other competitors it believes are stealing its intellectual property. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
It's a message that Apple has been putting out for several years. In 2007, Jobs said, "We've been pushing the state of the art in every facet of design. ... We've been innovating like crazy for the last few years on this and we've filed for over 200 patents for all of the inventions in iPhone. And we intend to protect them."
Last year, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said during a conference call, "We like competition, as long as they don't rip off our IP, and if they do, we're going to go after anybody that does. ... We think competition is good; it makes us all better. But we're ready to suit up and go against anyone."
But suing in the overwhelmed federal courts has become too slow a process for many technology companies. Apple...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Skype for Symbian Offered for Some Nokia Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71972
Nokia is making Skype available for the Symbian platform. A joint announcement Wednesday by the world's largest handset maker and the maker of the most popular VoIP calling software means that owners of select Nokia devices will be able to make phone calls over Wi-Fi or a mobile data connection at a fraction of the cost for normal calls.
With the Skype for Symbian application, available as a free download at Nokia's Ovi Store, calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world are free, and calls and SMS texts to non-Skype phones can be made at a reduced rate. Users can also send and receive instant messages, share photos and videos, see when Skype contacts are online, and import names and phone numbers from a device's existing address book.
Using Skype on a mobile data connection, such as GPRS, EDGE or 3G, means the user could be charged for the data usage. For this reason, Skype recommends users have an unlimited data plan.
The new app runs on any Nokia smartphone using the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype said it will soon make the client available for Symbian devices from other manufacturers, such as Sony Ericsson.
Initially, the app is available for five Nokia touchscreen devices, including the N97, and 18 non-touch devices.
Russ Shaw, general manager of mobile at Skype, told news media that he expects "more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide" will be able to use Skype.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that Nokia tried launching its own VoIP, called Gizmo5, but it failed because of the lack of an installed base for both sides of a conversation. "Nokia likes to think of itself as a pioneer in this area," he said.
He pointed out that Nokia's interest is...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Opera Hopes To Capitalize on Europe's Browser Choice
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71971
Microsoft is promoting alternative browsers to millions of Windows users across Europe -- and Opera is poised to pounce on the opportunity. With a brand-new, faster iteration of its open-source browser, Opera is working hard to gain the attention of Europeans looking for an Internet Explorer alternative.
Microsoft used to configure Internet Explorer as the default browser for its Windows operating system, but agreed last October to test-market measures to give European consumers an option to download and install competing browsers like Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox.
Microsoft is now offering European Windows users a choice through a browser screen that will be displayed automatically, and users can make any browser the default. Users can even turn Microsoft's Internet Explorer off, although Microsoft has said there's no need to turn it off to make another browser the default.
Håkon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software, called the browser screen a critical milestone in the evolution of the web, for web users, web developers, and everyone else who wants to see the web remain a healthy platform for innovation, information and communication. But analysts said the screen is not an automatic boon for Opera.
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The European Union forcing Microsoft to open up browser selection does give Opera an opportunity to tell its story to consumers and perhaps get them to give it a shot, said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. Opera could at least get its toe in the door.
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Opera will have to get more than a toe in the door to compete against Microsoft, though, even in Europe. Opera lost momentum to Google's Chrome browser in February. According to Net Applications, Opera lost .03 percent market share while Apple's Safari browser lost .08 percent. Even Firefox fell victim to Google, losing two percent, while Chrome gained .39 percent...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
New TiVo DVRs Blend TV and Internet Viewing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71968
TiVo on Tuesday set out to reinvent itself with DVRs that blend television and Internet viewing experiences. The TiVo Premiere and TV Premiere XL combine access to cable programming, movies, web videos, and music.
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TiVo is positioning the new devices as a one-stop shop for entertainment, offering viewers broadband and broadcast integration that lets them search for YouTube clips, Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and Blockbuster On Demand libraries, and more from one interface. The new offering uses pictures and graphics to make the television guide more interactive as users search through millions of pieces of content.
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TiVo has advanced the state of the art in DVR appliances. There's no question about that, said Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media. But whether it's enough to motivate existing owners of TiVo to spend money on a new box is more debatable. If I didn't have a DVR, it certainly gives me a material added reason to buy TiVo. But if I just bought a TiVo a year or two ago, I'm not ready to spend more money just to get a newer interface.
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subhead
Next-Gen Surfing
/subhead
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TiVo Premiere encourages browsing by organizing every show by category and topic. A full-screen menu displays movie posters and TV-show logos to speed browsing. Clicking on a show or actor pulls up entertainment resumes and cast lists so viewers can watch other programming containing the same stars.
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TiVo promises easier navigation by making the most of the extra room HD offers to slash the number of screens viewers need to visit. Because the set-top boxes are built on the Adobe Flash platform, it opens the door to more third-party applications that can further enhance the viewing experience.
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Premiere also offers an on-screen disk-space meter that shows consumers how much room they have left to record, a built-in 30-second...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
German Court Overturns Anti-Terrorism Data-Storage Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71956
Germany's highest court on Tuesday overturned a law that let anti-terror authorities retain data on telephone calls and e-mails, saying it posed a grave intrusion to personal privacy rights and must be revised.
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The court ruling was the latest to sharply criticize a major initiative by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and one of the strongest steps yet defending citizen rights from post-Sept. 11 terror-fighting measures.
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The ruling comes amid a European-wide attempt to set limits on the digital sphere in the name of protecting privacy, that includes disputes with Google Inc. over photographing citizens for its Street View maps and a vote against letting U.S. authorities see European bank transfers to track down terror cells.
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The Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the law violated Germans' constitutional right to private correspondence and failed to balance privacy rights against the need to provide security. It did not, however, rule out data retention in principle.
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The law had ordered that all data -- except content -- from phone calls and e-mail exchanges be retained for six months for possible use by criminal authorities, who could probe who contacted whom, from where and for how long.
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The disputed instructions neither provided a sufficient level of data security, nor sufficiently limited the possible uses of the data, the court said, adding that such retention represents an especially grave intrusion.
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The court said because citizens did not notice the data was being retained that caused a vague and threatening sense of being watched.
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Nearly 35,000 Germans had appealed to the court to overturn the law, which stems from a 2006 European Union anti-terrorism directive requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone data and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations.
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Civil rights activists who had fiercely opposed the law welcomed the ruling.
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The government must not...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Tech-Savvy Chile Embraces Social Media
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71952
The messages began flowing soon after the quake hit the country.
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Urgent. In Constitucion an eight-year old boy named Ivan Lara showed up alone. He's looking for his family, stated a post on Twitter.
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Urgent. If someone needs a ride to Concepcion call ... will be traveling tomorrow and there's room in the car, tweeted another user two minutes later.
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And 20 seconds after that, another person posted a link to a Web site with a list of supermarkets still open in the central-south region of Chile.
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Chile's population at 16.7 million is less than the New York metropolitan area, but the Pacific Coast nation ranks fourth worldwide in terms of social-networking penetration among its home and work Internet audience, according to comScore, a market research company specialized in online audiences.
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Since Saturday's quake, traditional media here have focused on hard news -- death tolls, rescue efforts, government announcements and images of lootings -- while social-networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook and some Google applications have been at the forefront of transmitting highly localized information.
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Top message topics are about finding families and friends, food and water, and ways to get transportation.
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The coastal city of Constitucion has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country. There is no air, bus or train service.
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Karla Ramos, a nurse in a Santiago hospital, posted a Facebook message Saturday to her family living in Concepcion. She heard nothing at first because the lack of electricity there meant there was no Internet service, but she finally heard back Sunday.
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The first thing college professor Ricardo Martinez of Santiago did on Saturday, once electricity was restored in his neighborhood, was to post a message on his Facebook account.
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Cellphone lines were jammed and I wanted to let all of my friends know that my family and I were doing fine, he said....
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Counterfeit Tech Products Flood IT Industry
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71950
Edward Dimmler dips a cotton swab in acetone and rubs it on the surface of a computer chip that was ostensibly manufactured by Samsung. The white tip turns black -- the first clue that the part may be fake. Dimmler, director of warehouse operations at electronics distributor PCX, then inspects the chip under a microscope and sees the word Samsung smeared across the top of the chip. Clearly, this memory chip is counterfeit, ineligible for resale. Dimmler quarantines it in the bowels of his warehouse on one of the shelves painted red to denote knockoffs of well-known brands, including Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and NEC. We now have to question everything, he says in an interview at PCX headquarters in Huntington Beach, Calif. A part is considered suspect until we prove otherwise.
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In the past five years, counterfeit computer chips, routers, and other electronic products have become an epidemic, says PCX Chief Executive Gil Aouizerat. The number of counterfeit electronic products uncovered in the defense industry alone more than doubled in 2008 to 9,356, from 3,868 in 2005, according to a January 2010 report by the Commerce Dept. Fake gear costs the information technology industry an estimated $100 billion a year, according to the National Electronics Distributors Assn.
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A counterfeit product is typically less reliable than the real thing, if it works at all. Fakes can impede tasks as varied as automotive navigation, medicine dispensing, and intelligence gathering. In January, Ehab Ali Ashoor, a Saudi citizen who lives in Sugar Land, Tex., was convicted of purchasing and selling counterfeit Cisco Systems parts intended for use by the Marine Corps. to monitor troop movement, relay intelligence, and maintain base security in Iraq, according to the Justice Dept. Counterfeiting is a very serious issue that impacts the entire high-tech industry on a...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Apple Owns Up To Suppliers' Labor Violations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71946
Apple Inc. said it found more than a dozen serious violations of labor laws or Apple's own rules at its suppliers that needed immediate correction.
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The findings were outlined in a company report on audits of 102 supplier facilities conducted in 2009. That was a year in which questions about the practices of one of Apple's suppliers came into focus after the suicide of a Chinese worker who held a sensitive job handling iPhones.
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Along with many other technology companies, Apple, based in Cupertino, California, relies heavily on foreign contractors to build its products. Monitoring their labor practices can be difficult, and Apple has caught heat in the past on this issue.
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The company said in its latest report that by making social responsibility a fundamental part of the way we do business, we insist that our suppliers take Apple's code as seriously as we do.
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Apple said it found 17 core violations, the most serious type.
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Those included three cases of underage workers being hired; eight instances of workers paying recruitment fees that were above the legal limits in those countries; three cases in which suppliers used non-certified vendors to dispose of hazardous waste; and three others in which the companies gave false records during the audits.
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In the cases involving underage workers, Apple said three facilities had hired a total of 11 workers who were 15 years old in countries where the minimum employment age is 16. Apple noted that the workers were no longer underage or weren't working for the facilities anymore when the audits were undertaken.
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Apple has been pressured before to answer questions about its suppliers' practices.
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Last July, a 25-year-old Chinese worker whose job involved shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple killed himself by jumping from the 12th floor of his apartment building amid an investigation into a missing iPhone. The worker, Sun...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
Eradicating Graffiti? There's an App for That
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71940
The old-school practice of American graffiti may have met its match in some high-tech prevention programs designed to spot, report and remove the blight from city and private property.
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The latest weapon comes in the form of an iPhone application, developed by a Los Angeles company, that will allow cities to catalog graffiti, dispatch cleanup crews and provide key evidence to police.
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The software application lets citizens or government officials photograph graffiti with an iPhone and send the image to the company's databases. The location of the graffiti is automatically marked using the phone's GPS capabilities. An electronic work order is created and, in minutes, a technician can be sent with matching paint to cover up the graffiti. The images are cataloged and mapped so police can track down suspects and build a stronger case.
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In Tucson, for example, Lt. Ron Stiso said iPhone data were used to track down 28-year-old Bobby Leverette, arrested Feb. 4 on suspicion of more than 20 felony counts of criminal damage, plus narcotics violations.
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We've made multiple arrests, Stiso said. It certainly is a great tool for us.
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Graffiti eradication is big business. Nationwide, the cost is estimated at $15 billion to $18 billion a year to monitor, detect, remove and repair graffiti damage, said Randy Campbell, a retired California Highway Patrol officer and president of the NoGraf Network, a national consortium of police agencies dedicated to ending the vandalism.
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Campbell said there is other technology being used to fight the problem, including:
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*GRIP Systems, an $850-a-year subscription program for cities, allows residents to send in photos of graffiti from cell phones, or use their computers to e-mail photos and the location of the graffiti, which get logged into a database. The Web site maps other crimes as well using GPS and Google Maps.
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*Tripline Systems uses covert motion-detecting cameras that are...
Thu, 4 Mar 10
New Hacking Trend: Cybercrime Goes Virtual
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71901
Computer gamers are increasingly finding that there's a serious side to their virtual fun: their hard-earned virtual objects are being stolen from them, and in some cases their entire game as well.
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The trend was first reported in an article by Hamburg-based Computer Bild magazine. On the one hand, hackers are employing phishing attacks to snare access data for user accounts for online role playing games.
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They then use the plundered passwords to transfer away virtual swords and other gear. Because the objects often demand a great deal of time to earn, once stolen they can then be resold for a significant profit.
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The magazine also notes that hackers are also trying to steal away an entire game. Many titles require gamers to register online for copyright protection purposes.
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If hackers can sniff out the passwords, they can then assume control of the account and by extension the game itself. If the hacker then changes the access data, the original purchaser can no longer acce