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Tech Industry Sees Benefits from Earth Day Principles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72939
Earth Day turned 40 Thursday as increasingly conspicuous consumption of high-tech devices makes it hard to imagine reducing the technology sector's carbon footprint. But there is plenty of evidence that both consumers and manufacturers will take strong steps toward greener pastures if given the right opportunity -- and motivation.
A December poll by ABI Research found that 98 percent of mobile-phone users were willing to turn in their older-model handsets to a charity, manufacturer or retail store, but only in exchange for a discount or tax deduction.
The same survey found that 38 percent of those polled had recently recycled their phones, but only five percent of those did so while getting nothing in return.
"Many consumers in the U.S. are prepared to help the environment by recycling their old handsets, but only if there is a financial incentive to do so," said ABI's Michael Morgan.
The relatively low cost of cell phones and the availability of free or discounted models at the start of new carrier plans makes them perhaps the most common consumer device to be regularly replaced when new models arrive.
"It is far easier to recycle a phone than a PC or TV and many new phones ship with an envelope to recycle your old one," said consumer-devices analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "There are already a handful of phones on the market made from recycled materials."
He added that many phones now signal their users when they are fully charged so they can be unplugged, and packaging has seen a dramatic reduction.
While expensive laptop and desktop computers are less frequently replaced in most homes, manufacturers are increasingly marketing greener products. Apple is marketing its newest MacBook Pros as "the world's greenest lineup of notebooks," touting energy efficiency, arsenic-free display glass, a mercury-free...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Microsoft Office Gets Social on Facebook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72938
Microsoft's FUSE Labs has released a new social experiment that is designed to enable users to discover, create and share Microsoft Office documents with their friends on Facebook. Called Docs, the online beta service is based on the Web Apps technology already built into Microsoft Office 2010.
"This product was designed to be social," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company's f8 developer conference in San Francisco. "It is built from the ground up with the assumption that every user would have their real identity and friends."
The seamless integration of Microsoft Office 2010 with Facebook enables users to decide with whom they want to share their documents at each stage of the process -- from privately creating and editing to collaborating on docs and sharing the final result publicly on the web. "You can . . . have someone help you edit it, incorporate feedback, and then share it with the world," noted Pat Kinsel, a program manager at FUSE Labs.
Moreover, users are not limited to creating and editing their document files exclusively in an online environment. "Documents can be viewed and edited directly within a web browser -- or, with a single click, you can edit them more richly and powerfully through the Microsoft Office software on your PC or Mac," said Lili Cheng, general manager of FUSE Labs.
The advantage of sharing and collaborating in the Docs.com online environment is that this makes it possible for everyone to create and collaborate on Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents -- including those who do not have Microsoft Office running on their computers, Cheng noted.
"If you don't have Office, you can use the web app to create [documents] online," Cheng said. "We really believe that people don't have these lines between work and play, so...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Facebook Extends Social Networking To all Web Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72937
Facebook on Wednesday announced a new approach to connecting and sharing with friends online. The latest version of the Facebook Platform aims to put people at the center of the web via social plug-ins.
"We are making it so all web sites can work together to build a more comprehensive map of connections and create better, more social experiences for everyone," said Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg. "We have redesigned Facebook Platform to offer a simple set of tools that sites around the web can use to personalize experiences and build out the graph of connections people are making."
One of the new features is the "Like" option. Just as people can show their friends they're interested in their status updates, photos and links by clicking "Like," they can now "Like" popular web sites beyond Facebook. "Like" or "Recommend" buttons are now found at the bottom of sites like NYTimes.com, IMDb, CNN.com and NHL.com. Currently, Facebook has inked deals with more than 75 web sites.
Taking that notion a step further, the Activity Feed now displays the actions a user's friends are taking on a web site. People who are logged into Facebook and visit CNN.com, for example, are now automatically showing their friends what articles and topics they are sharing, recommending and commenting on.
Sterling Market Intelligence principal Greg Sterling said this is Facebook's effort to make the web more social -- and personal -- by making it simpler to integrate the Facebook log-in, tools and user data into third-party web sites.
"There's also reciprocal sharing of data and user behavior back to Facebook and, in some circumstances, more broadly throughout the Open Graph -- network of web sites -- that Facebook is seeking to facilitate with these new tools," Sterling said.
Zuckerberg stressed that none of a user's personal...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Flawed Update and Late Fix Angers McAfee Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72936
McAfee is backpedaling from an update that wreaked havoc for Windows users. The flawed update has the company's support team working around the clock to fix the problem.
The trouble began Wednesday when McAfee pushed out a virus update after identifying a new threat to Windows PCs. The update, which passed quality testing, created a problem for a some enterprise customers and home users of the company's VirusScan Plus, Internet Security Suite, and Total Protection products.
"In our ongoing efforts to protect our customers from a seemingly endlessly multiplying variety and volume of attacks, today we released an update file that clearly did more harm than good," said Barry McPherson, McAfee's executive vice president of worldwide technical support and customer service.
"This all relates to the McAfee update for Microsoft Windows XP with SP3, and provides users with a false positive detection of virus 'w32/wecorl.a'," said Jart Armin, a security expert with Host Exploit. "Ultimately it results in uncontrolled restarts and
loss of networking functionality for the PCs updated."
The update was removed from McAfee's download servers within hours in order to stop any additional impact on customers, McPherson said.
While McAfee reported the error impacted only a moderate number of customers, reports show the error wreaked havoc on millions of personal computers. "Current community estimates reveal around 2.5 to 3 million PCs affected worldwide," Armin said.
McAfee on Thursday released a fix for both home and business users. Home users can access directions at http://service.mcafee.com/faqdocument.aspx?id=TS100969 and business users at http://vil.nai.com/vil/5958_false.htm, but it requires a techie to personally fix each PC, Armin said.
"Mistakes happen. No excuses. The nearly 7,000 employees of McAfee are focused right now on two things," McPherson said. He said the plan is to first help customers who have been affected to get back to business. Once that is done,...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Hulu May Offer a Subscription Service for TV Series
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72935
One part of the future for TV watching may soon emerge. According to a new report, the popular online video site Hulu plans to start a subscription-based service.
A report in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times said a subscription of $9.95 per month will be offered on May 24. It will allow users to see current TV series episodes older than the five most recent shows. The most recent programs will still be available free, with ads. The Times attributed the information to "people with knowledge of the plans."
The new service will be called Hulu Plus, and will provide access to the backlog of shows from such popular series as Glee, Lost and Saturday Night Live.
Hulu, owned by News Corp., NBC Universal, and the Walt Disney Co., has taken in more than $100 million in advertising revenue since its launch two years ago, and the company said it has had an operating profit in the most recent two quarters. It offers content from a wide range of more than 200 content providers, including ABC, Lionsgate, Endemol, MGM, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Paramount, PBS, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Brothers, and others. For TV alone, Hulu's library includes more than 1,700 series.
Hulu's place in the emerging media ecosystem -- and especially its plan to generate revenue beyond advertising -- has been a constant subject of discussion among industry observers. There has been an expectation that, sooner or later, it would need to begin charging for some of its TV and movie content.
Dmitriy Molchanov, an analyst with industry research firm Yankee Group, said the basis of the new subscription offer will be that it provides access to more content than what users can otherwise get. This kind of move is necessary for the site, he said, as it "needs to do...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
CenturyTel-Qwest Deal a Challenge To AT&T, Verizon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72918
In a move to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, CenturyTel is acquiring Qwest in a $10.5 billion stock swap. The companies expect the transaction to generate synergies of about $625 million over the next three to five years.
The merger will double the size of CenturyTel and give the telecom industry a company with more strength in the enterprise market. Qwest Business serves 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies and is one of the three universal service providers for Networx, the largest communications-services contract in the world.
"We believe the combination of CenturyTel's and Qwest's employees, assets and service areas will provide us greater scale, scope and expertise, and will provide significant benefits for shareholders, customers and our communities," said Glen F. Post III, CenturyTel's CEO and president. "This combination will enhance our ability to deploy innovative IP products and high-bandwidth services to business customers, expand broadband availability and speed to consumers, and offer superior, differentiated video products."
The merger creates a company with national breadth and local depth. Combined, the companies serve local markets in 37 states with about five million broadband customers, 17 million access lines, 1,415,000 video subscribers, and 850,000 wireless consumers.
"The combined company's highly recognized national network will significantly expand our ability to deliver strategic and customized product and service solutions to our business, wholesale and government customers throughout the country," Post said. "In addition, we will still maintain the focus on our local markets through our effective regional operating model and targeted marketing strategies."
CenturyTel expects the merger to drive cost savings through reduction of corporate overhead, elimination of duplicate functions and systems, and increased operational efficiencies. The transaction also is expected to generate annual capital-expenditure synergies of approximately $50 million within the first two years.
"Qwest is a small company....
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Tablets, Smartphones Reportedly Coming from Dell
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72917
Dell is preparing to make a big splash in mobile devices, if even a few of the most recently leaked reports are accurate. The reports indicate a high-end Windows Phone 7 smartphone, several smartphones based on the open-source Android operating system, and two Android tablets.
According to information leaked to technology site Engadget, the Windows Phone 7-based Lightning is a portrait slider, meaning the keyboard slides out from the bottom of the rectangle, not from the more customary side. It reportedly is built around a one-GHz Snapdragon processor and has a high-resolution WVGA 4.1-inch OLED screen, AT&T and T-Mobile 3G, a five-megapixel autofocus camera, 512MB of RAM with 1GB of flash memory, and an 8GB MicroSD card.
The Lightning is attracting attention as one of the slickest smartphones using the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. The model also includes GPS, an accelerometer, a compass, FM radio, and, notably unlike Apple's iPhone, support for Adobe's ubiquitous Flash technology.
Apparently Engadget got ahold of a presentation on the new phone, and it included a screen saying that the Lightning, targeted for release by the fourth quarter, would be upgraded to the 4G ultra-high-speed LTE network technology by the end of next year.
And where there's Lightning, there's Thunder. Sneak previews of Dell's Android-based Thunder smartphone are also surfacing on the web. It reportedly features an eight-megapixel camera, photo editing, a Dell-customized user interface, a 4.1-inch WVGA OLED touchscreen, an integrated Hulu application, tie-ins to Facebook and Twitter, and Flash. Initially, the Thunder will run on AT&T's HSDPA network, with a LTE version planned for the latter part of next year.
Speaking of Flash, another new Dell Android-based smartphone that is being leaked is called Flash. It has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a five-megapixel camera, and supports the other Flash from Adobe. Like...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Yahoo Profit Soars and Revenue Grows, But Stock Falls
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72903
Yahoo Inc. milked the recovering online advertising market and its new partnership with Microsoft Corp. to start the year with its best quarterly performance since hiring Carol Bartz to engineer a turnaround.
The first-quarter results released Tuesday marked Yahoo's first revenue growth in 18 months, although the meager gain of 1 percent fell shy of management and analyst hopes. The company's shares dropped by more than 3.5 percent in extended trading.
Earnings for the January-March period more than doubled as Yahoo began to reap the benefits from its plans to rely on Microsoft for its Internet search results and accompanying ads.
Although the transition won't be done until next year, the savings and scheduled payments from the deal began to flow to Yahoo after U.S. and European regulators approved the alliance in February.
Microsoft's net payments to Yahoo totaled $78 million in the first quarter. The company expects to get $75 million to $85 million per quarter from Microsoft for the rest of this year.
Yahoo also got a first-quarter boost from the January sale of an e-mail service.
"We delivered what I would call a solid quarter," Bartz told analysts in a conference call.
Bartz, 61, became Yahoo's CEO early last year after the company fell into a financial funk under its two previous leaders, former movie studio boss Terry Semel and company co-founder Jerry Yang.
While Yahoo's fortunes sagged even more as the recession worsened last year, Bartz focused on cutting costs, forging the Microsoft partnership and polishing the company's brand. The austerity measures helped lower Yahoo's first-quarter operating expenses by 10 percent.
Yahoo earned $310.2 million, or 22 cents per share, in the first quarter. That compared with income of $117.6 million, or 8 cents per share, a year ago.
If not for one-time gains, Yahoo said it would have earned 15 cents per share. That figure...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
AT&T Reports Fewer New Contract Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72899
AT&T Inc. added fewer wireless customers with contracts in the first quarter than it has since 2004, an indication that the saturation of the market is even starting to catch up with the carrier of the iPhone.
The country's largest telecommunications provider said Wednesday that it added a net 512,000 wireless customers under contracts, down 43 percent from a year ago.
Over the past week, analyst reports indicated that AT&T was expected to add between 500,000 and 600,000 contract-signing customers.
AT&T activated about 900,000 iPhones for new customers. However, it lost some iPhone subscribers to other carriers as well, so it's not clear how much the iPhone contributed to the net gain of 512,000. Another 1.8 million people who were already AT&T customers also got iPhones.
Customers under contract pay a lot more than those who "prepay" for service, or buy service through a wholesaler like Tracfone.
The low number of new contract customers actually helped AT&T's results in the short term, because it didn't have to sell as many subsidized phones. And the subscribers it does have were more profitable because more signed up for data plans.
AT&T earned $2.48 billion, or 42 cents per share, in the first three months of the year. That was down 21 percent from a year ago. But excluding items, AT&T earned 59 cents per share, beating the average forecast of 54 cents per share by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The items included a previously announced charge of $995 million, or 17 cents per share, to reflect a change in the health care reform package regarding the tax treatment of benefits.
Revenue was $30.6 billion, flat with a year ago and slightly below analyst expectations for $30.7 billion.
In morning trading, AT&T shares fell 33 cents to $26.33.
AT&T's earnings also were helped by relative stability on the wireline side of...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
The New Teeny, Tiny World Wide Web
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72894
Back in October of 2009, BusinessWeek reporter Douglas MacMillan argued [that] although it was easy to dismiss the growing "app economy" as a fad, apps were in fact potentially powerful tools in the hands of entrepreneurs and forward-thinking business people.
The essential wisdom of MacMillan's analysis has been demonstrated over time: Nobody doubts that there is now a burgeoning app economy. More than half a dozen app stores have launched since Apple ushered in the era of the mobile app with its App Store. Developers of mobile apps have a large number of channels through which their programs can be brought to market.
The iPhone app model has affected the Internet in a more fundamental way, too. Its impact has been to create a world with two different Webs: We now have a "13-inch Web," that consists predominantly of sites designed for desktop and laptop screens, served by a mouse pointer, and a new kind of Web optimized for 3.5-inch screens and built around finger use. The 3.5-inch Web is rapidly expanding. According to Cambridge [England] based mobile-search-engine company Taptu, there are now about 400,000 3.5-inch, touch-optimized sites and another 200,000 or so apps.
Apple's iPhone operating system remains the most attractive option for potential developers. It's the sole platform among many -- including alternatives from Google, Microsoft, Nokia, and Research In Motion -- that developers cannot afford to ignore. Its appeal has been extended by the launch of the Apple iAd in-app advertising platform.
The appeal of iPhone OS goes beyond attracting those who want to remain relevant and make money from smartphone apps: The iPhone app is so ubiquitous that it is becoming a must-have item for any business, whether its interest lies in typically developing for mobile delivery or not. Digital marketing started changing with the iPhone...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Startups Face a Tough Financing Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72893
Venture capital returns over the past decade deserve two thumbs down. $100 invested in a venture capital fund in 2000 is worth slightly more than $98 today, once you factor in fees and expenses, according to research by Boston-based investment consulting firm Cambridge Associates. With such returns, why not buy into a lemonade stand? Not surprisingly, fundraising activity has dropped precipitously to $13.7 billion in 2009, down 66 percent from 2007, when the financial crisis began.
Venture capitalists are taking meetings -- to maintain the mystique. But things are far from business as usual. Some funds are looking only inward, dedicating capital to support a struggling portfolio. Others that are nearing the end of their life cycles are winding down altogether. The industry has proven that it can no longer support an endless stream of me-too investors and entrepreneurs.
With a longer path to liquidity and lower valuations on exits, entrepreneurs seeking early-stage equity investment need to prepare for a different set of investor expectations.
Jennifer Sargent and Gregory Ellwood, founders of Los Angeles-based entertainment news site HitFix, beat the odds by completing a $980,000 seed round right after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Anticipating a tough climate for follow-on funding, they took drastic steps to reduce spending and nonetheless managed to acquire 500,000 unique users, a key milestone. But in October 2009, as Sargent and Ellwood started pitching investors for a $1.5 million institutional round, they made a disturbing discovery: The VCs that they had sacrificed to impress were no longer investing actively.
That's because investors, even brand-name players, can no longer raise as much cash. With midsized funds diminishing, new money flowing into the industry resembles a barbell, with blue chip Sand Hill Road funds at one end, and smaller, laser-focused funds on the other.
It takes...
Fri, 23 Apr 10
Technology Can't Create True Collaboration
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72892
Why should any organization adopt collaboration? There's only one reason -- value creation. After all, if we're not creating value, what's the point? With a growing consciousness for collaboration, many companies are investing in collaboration tools and technologies. These range from enterprise instant messaging and unified communications, wikis, and enterprise social media to virtual worlds, Web conferencing, and telepresence.
In a typical scenario, the months fly by after the collaboration tools are implemented. As the seasons change, decision-makers anticipate reaping the benefits of collaboration. And perhaps they can even point to successes within particular business units or functions. Often, though, it's the same old story. The company remains for the most part internally competitive, hierarchical, and command-and-control driven. The tools alone have failed to make the company collaborative. Worse yet, the tools may have created no real value, and the decision-makers who had pinned such high hopes on these tools are surprised.
Are the tools the problem? More likely, the problem is the organization. When tools fail to create value, it's usually because decision-makers adopt tools before the company's culture and processes are collaboration-ready. Organizations even adopt tools for the wrong reasons, primarily the belief that tools will create collaboration. Tools merely offer the potential for collaboration. Unlocking the value of tools happens only when an organization fits tools into collaborative culture and processes. If the culture is hierarchical and internally competitive, it will take more than tools to shift the culture. Just because a competitor uses collaborative tools doesn't mean the time is right for your organization to do likewise. If the competitor is apparently deriving value from tools, maybe it's because the competitor's culture is more collaborative and the tools are extending and enhancing the culture.
Here are five ways to create value through collaborative tools and technologies:
Thu, 22 Apr 10
T-Mobile Rolls Out Navigation-Focused Garminfone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72915
Mobile-phone users looking for directions may consider T-Mobile's new Garminfone. T-Mobile USA and Garmin International on Wednesday unveiled the Garminfone, which includes navigation software. T-Mobile has the exclusive right to sell the smartphone in the U.S.
The new Android-based device has a three-megapixel camera, a music player, and a 3.5-inch multi-touch display. It includes support for Microsoft Exchange, social networking, and instant messaging, and all standard Google services, including YouTube, Google Maps, and Gmail.
"Busy people balancing personal and professional lives are increasingly seeking smartphones, and the deep integration of Garmin navigation into the smartphone features of this device helps them do more than simply navigate their busy lives," said George Harrison, vice president of marketing product innovation at T-Mobile.
Integrated into the navigation system is a feature that enables users to navigate to an address by clicking on it from a text message, a calendar appointment, an e-mail or a web page. The device also remembers where the user parked and provides navigation back to the car.
Also part of the navigation system are voice and on-screen directions and automatic rerouting. The smartphone uses text-to-speech technology to announce street names, and the screen automatically switches from day to night.
A camera with autofocus geotags images so users can navigate back to where photos were taken. Geotagged photos include latitude and longitude coordinates and place-names. Users can also e-mail the geotagged photos or post them on the web.
Travel applications such as weather, gas, prices and local events are also built in to the Garminfone. The phone is the first to include Garmin Voice Studio, an Android app that enables users to record and share personal voice directions from others.
While the Garminfone's built-in navigation is a focus, T-Mobile wasn't able to spotlight the core feature quick enough. The...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Microsoft Sets May Release for SQL Server 2008 R2
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72914
Microsoft on Wednesday announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. The new platform for managing, accessing and delivering information will roll out in early May in conjunction with 85 live launch events around the world.
Microsoft is throwing out some early numbers to prove support for SQL Server 2008: More than 2,000 independent software vendors plan to build solutions on the platform; the likes of SAP, Kronos and Epicor are supporting it; and 300,000 customers have downloaded the community technology previews.
According to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, customers have been waiting for R2 because it offers greater efficiency and better tuning between the hardware and software.
"As Intel and AMD have released these parts that have tons of cores and a significant amount of management capability," he said, "this is the version of SQL that now makes use of both the cores and the management capability."
Microsoft is tapping into the demand for business intelligence (BI) with its latest iteration of SQL Server. Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the business platform division at Microsoft, noted that customers are continually receiving and creating greater amounts of data.
"Our goal is to help customers extract value and business insight from that information, whether it is stored locally on their PC, in a data center, or in the cloud," Kummert said. He sees the latest release as a major step forward.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 offers several key enhancements, including managed self-service BI for reporting and analysis, enterprise-class scalability and greater IT efficiency, and platform integration spanning the data center to the cloud. It has new BI technology called PowerPivot that lets users bring data from virtually anywhere and manipulate large datasets with ease while still enabling IT to monitor and manage user-generated BI...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
iPhone 4G Drama Continues Even as Prototype Returned
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72912
Even if the world has already had a stolen glimpse of Apple's iPhone 4G and its newest features, there are still enough unanswered questions to build drama around this summer's launch.
Apple confirmed that the iPhone prototype found in a California bar is its property and obtained its return even as pictures from Gizmodo, which bought the device for $5,000, appeared all over the Internet and in broadcast and print media.
The prototype reportedly was left in a saloon by a 27-year-old Apple engineer named Gray Powell, who tried desperately to get it back. His current employment status is not known.
Apple, which reported record profits Tuesday, is as well-known for secrecy as it is for game-changing devices. The company would not even confirm that it had built a tablet computer before the Jan. 27 event that unveiled the iPad. CEO Steve Jobs likes to keep the public -- and the media -- guessing about what's coming next until he can personally demonstrate it.
But IDC Research wireless analyst Ramon Llamas said that even with his thunder stolen, Jobs can still make the iPhone launch newsworthy. For one thing, there is still a lot of speculation about whether the new version will be locked to AT&T's U.S. network, if a rumored Verizon Wireless-compatible version will emerge, or even if an unlocked edition will make the scene.
"Have we seen everything out of this story?" Llamas asked. "My answer is no."
Another missing piece of the puzzle, he noted, is whether Apple will continue marketing and supporting the current iPhone 3G and 3GS with an iPhone 4G announcement. "The next question is what happens to the 3G, and will they still sell both the 16GB and 32GB, and at what price?"
Given Apple's ability to work fast, Llamas said it's not inconceivable that Jobs could...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Salesforce Buys Contact Data Provider Jigsaw
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72911
Moving deeper into cloud-based business-to-business data services, Salesforce.com announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement to buy Jigsaw. The soon-to-be acquired company provides crowd-sourced business contact data.
The purchase price is about $142 million, plus a performance-based additional 10 percent. Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com chairman and CEO, said the acquisition will help his company "bring the data-services industry into the era of Cloud 2." With Jigsaw, he added, it will be "as easy as Wikipedia to source data, as easy as iTunes to buy data, and as easy as Facebook to stay updated as the data changes."
Jigsaw says on its web site that its role is "collecting, refining, managing, protecting and organizing the global list of people in business -- so you don't have to."
The Jigsaw community currently consists of more than 1.2 million members with a contact database of 21 million professionals at almost four million companies. More than 25,000 contacts are added and edited every day. The company also provides free tools for researching companies, and has a user-created company research Wiki. Currently, the company has about 800 corporate customers, including New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, Hackett Group, and Sales Performance International.
The purchase, Salesforce said, will combine "the power of Salesforce.com's suite of CRM applications and leading enterprise cloud platform with Jigsaw's cloud-based model for the automation of acquiring, completing and cleansing business contact data." The company also said Jigsaw's cloud platform is an "enormous opportunity" for developers and independent software vendors to create new applications that utilize business contact data.
Any company or individual professional will still be able to join Jigsaw, whether or not they are Salesforce customers. Business-card information is shared by the community, and any Jigsaw.com member can access the database and accumulate points by helping to maintain data quality. Points can then...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Analysts See Strong Growth Ahead for Apple's iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72908
Apple blew away Wall Street expectations for its fiscal second quarter Tuesday by racking up $13.5 billion in revenue and net income of $3.07 billion with 8.75 million iPhones and 2.94 million Macs sold.
"The strong momentum we experienced in the holiday quarter continued in the March quarter," CFO Peter Oppenheimer said in a conference call with investors. "As a result, we are reporting our best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings ever, the highest quarterly iPhone sales ever, and a new record for Mac sales in the March quarter."
Apple said it recognized $5.45 billion in revenue from iPhone sales, accessory sales, and carrier payments during the quarter, up from $2.43 billion in the year-ago period. "The sales value of iPhones alone was about $5.3 billion, and dividing this by the 8.75 million units yields an average selling price of about $600," Oppenheimer said.
Apple also noted that its iTunes Store delivered its best quarter ever with sales of $1.1 billion. Additionally, the company assured investors worried about Apple's venerable iPod line by selling 10.9 million units, a mere one percent decline from the 11 million sold in the same quarter last year.
Apple's international sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue -- driven in major part by strong iPhone sales, which are carrying Apple's brand abroad, observed Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster, Michael Olson and Andrew Murphy. Moreover, the financial analysts anticipate that Apple will soon introduce new iPhone hardware that will further drive handset sales globally in coming quarters.
"We continue to expect a new version of the iPhone to be released this summer -- likely in the June quarter, given Apple's indication of a coming product transition," the analysts observed in a report released Wednesday. "Recent media reports also indicate that meaningful new features, like video...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Adobe Throws in Towel by Stopping iPhone Development
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72907
The battle between Apple and Adobe Systems over Flash on the iPhone and iPad appears to have reached a turning point. On Tuesday, an Adobe product manager said his company will stop development on a tool that turns Flash applications into native apps for the iPhone and iPad.
The tool is part of Creative Suite 5, Adobe's massive package of its major products that is scheduled for release on Monday. Adobe product manager Mike Chambers, in a post Tuesday on his blog, said the company is "not currently planning any additional investments in that feature." In other words, Adobe's tool for adapting Flash for the iPhone and iPad is now an orphan.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has continually disparaged Flash, saying, among other things, that it was too slow for his company's mobile devices. In his blog post, Chambers specifically noted that the iPhone packager tool in CS5 proved "there is no technical reason that Flash can't run on the iPhone," and "well performing" content can be created with Flash for the iPhone and iPad.
Apple recently modified its Software Developers Kit (SDK) license in a way that forbids cross-platform compilers. Such tools allow a developer to create an application for one platform and then recompile it for another. Some industry observers took this to be a direct shot at Adobe's efforts to allow conversion of Flash apps into native iPhone or iPad apps.
Adobe was obviously not happy about this. On an official company blog, The Flash Blog,
Adobe Technology Evangelist Lee Brimelow wrote earlier this month that Apple "won't allow applications onto their marketplace solely because of what language was originally used to create them." He called this a "frightening move" that could not have any other reason but to seek "tyrannical control over developers."
Brimelow, who posted a note...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Apple Profit Jumps 90 Percent -- Before iPad Sales Began
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Apple stock is riding high after the company announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 second quarter on Tuesday. Apple stock broke the NASDAQ trading record after it nearly doubled its profit in the quarter.
Apple's stock has nearly doubled in the past year, making it the third most valuable company in the U.S. With the earnings announcement and the 6.3 percent rise (about $15 per share) in Apple stock, the company is gaining ground on rival Microsoft's number-two position in the stock market.
"We're thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We've launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year."
The expected revenue from strong iPad sales hasn't had time to impact Apple's earnings, much less the other "extraordinary products" Jobs mentioned. The iPad went on sale on April 3, after the company's fiscal second quarter ended. This suggests future quarters may be even brighter for the Mac maker and is causing analysts to recommend buying Apple stock.
Apple posted revenue of $13.5 billion and a net profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, for the quarter. That compares to revenue of $9.08 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.62 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Apple's gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue.
Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent growth from a year ago. Apple sold 10.89 million iPods during...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Foursquare Seeks To Move Beyond Its Niche
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The point of Foursquare is to encourage people to get out and do more. Yet the guy who's leading the company's software development doesn't much leave the office. In fact, Naveen Selvadurai spends most of his waking hours in a six-block radius.
The 28-year-old co-founder of Foursquare, a closely watched startup that lets 1 million enthusiastic users "check in" at locations via smartphone during their daily perambulations, spends the majority of his time elbow-to-elbow with co-founder Dennis Crowley in a cramped one-room office in Manhattan's East Village.
When Selvadurai's not there, he's either home at his apartment blocks away or catching a meal nearby. Pretty much everything that matters to him these days is within a five-minute walk. "Right now I'm working about 16, maybe 18 hours a day," Selvadurai says. "I work all day, grab dinner, go home, and work some more. I hardly ever take a subway anymore." He adds: "Lately I've been thinking about getting a scooter."
The more peripatetic devotees of the Foursquare game that runs on Apple's iPhone and other devices have made Selvadurai's and Crowley's company a sought-after commodity in tech circles. On Apr. 21, Foursquare expected to sign up the millionth user of its location-based software, which lets fans check in at bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and train stations, competing for the free meals and other perks merchants dole out to virtual "mayors" in the game who frequent their establishments the most.
Foursquare takes advantage of the GPS chips inside smartphones to let users broadcast where they are and find out where other users are congregating. "I live in the East Village, which has so much rich history and so much to do, and I realized that I'd seen maybe 5 percent of it," Selvadurai says. "I was looking for a way to get...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Facebook Retools User Profiles with Brand Focus
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Facebook is revamping users' profiles to emphasize the pages for bands, books and businesses that millions have become fans of on the world's largest online social network.
Currently, users can list their activities, interests, favorite music and TV shows as part of their profiles. But links to Facebook "pages" for wine, your local library or the Lakers basketball team would appear in a separate section lower down.
Beginning Monday, Facebook will start prompting users to essentially combine the two. So if you listed Johnny Cash in the "favorite music" section of your profile, Facebook will now ask you to join his page, if you haven't become a fan of it already.
You'll be able to hide this connection on your profile, but your name will still be listed on the Johnny Cash page as one of the 1.2 million "people who like this" -- what Facebook used to term "fans." The same goes for users' home towns, education and work places.
But there are more to Facebook pages than brands and bands.
People like pickles, they like sleeping in and 641,653 people even like the Norwegian Olympic curling team's pants. So for such things, Facebook is rolling out "community pages."
In many cases this page will include the Wikipedia entry on the topic, along with Facebook posts from friends and others discussing it. The page collects and displays posts by Facebook users mentioning cooking. Users will see posts from their friends and from strangers who haven't restricted public access to their updates.
But for now, there is no option for users to interact with the cooking page, for example, by posting a message directly on its "wall." Facebook said it will be asking people "who are passionate about any of these topics" to sign up as a contributor, though the company did not say when this would...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
IBM's Results Point To Tech-Spending Rebound
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IBM Corp. said Monday its first-quarter profit jumped 13 percent, and the company offered evidence that corporate technology spending is rebounding after the recession.
IBM said it earned $2.6 billion, or $1.97 per share, in the first three months of the year. In the same period of 2009 it earned $2.3 billion, or $1.70 per share.
The improvement came not just from cost cutting, which IBM relied on much of last year to raise profits. In the most recent quarter, revenue climbed 5 percent to $22.9 billion.
The results beat the average analyst estimate of $1.93 per share on revenue of $22.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Even before Monday, there were signs that more businesses are spending again on technology such as computer servers and software after clamping down during the recession. Last week Intel Corp., the world's biggest chip maker, said its first-quarter income nearly quadrupled. And analysts at Gartner Inc. said worldwide information-technology spending is expected to rise more than 5 percent in 2010, after falling 1 percent in 2009.
IBM's results reaffirm that the pickup in IT spending is significant and broad-based, said Annex Research analyst Bob Djurdjevic.
"I expected good things from IBM but I didn't expect them to be this good," he said.
On a conference call with analysts Monday, IBM's chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, declined to give an opinion on whether the broader market for information technology has returned to normal. But of IBM in particular, he said, "I feel like we've got a good hand going into the second quarter."
IBM said its first-quarter revenue would have been flat at constant currency rates. Deals in other currencies translate into more dollars when the U.S. currency is weak.
However, IBM had a bigger increase than what it showed in the last three months of 2009. In that quarter, revenue grew just...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Nokia Rebounds From Crippling Global Crisis
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The world's largest handset maker, Nokia Corp., is expected on Thursday to show continuing growth in quarterly profits and a pickup in sales, as the mobile phone industry emerges from a debilitating global economic crisis.
OVERVIEW: Like its main rivals, Nokia was hit by the financial downturn after a major setback in the last quarter of 2008. Last year, it slashed more than 3,000 jobs globally and temporarily laid off thousands in Finland. Its joint network equipment venture with Germany's Siemens AG -- Nokia Siemens Networks -- announced 5,700 job cuts. It has warned of more layoffs this year.
But, in the first signs that the industry was slowly recuperating, the bellwether surprised markets two months ago when it reported a surge in smart phone sales and a 65 percent growth in fourth-quarter net profit despite a fall in revenue.
BY THE NUMBERS: Sixteen analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires predict that Nokia will report 6 percent growth in Q1 net sales and a nine-fold increase in operating profit from a year earlier when its net profit plunged 90 percent and sales fell 27 percent in the middle of the recession.
WHAT'S AHEAD: Last year, Nokia held onto its position as the No.1 mobile phone maker, selling 432 million handsets -- down 8 percent on 2008. Total industry sales were 1.1 billion, down 6 percent on the previous year.
The company predicts that device volumes will grow some 10 percent this year globally, but that growth in its own market share -- at some 34 percent -- will remain unchanged.
Markets will be looking for further growth signs after a difficult 2009, which Nokia's Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo described as "the toughest environment ever" in the sector. Analysts have predicted that Nokia's latest handsets -- cheaper smart phones aimed at emerging markets -- will help the...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Low-Power Bluetooth Version Coming for Watches
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A new version of the Bluetooth wireless technology could expand what can be done by watches, toys, home sensors, medical monitors and other devices that typically have been limited in their functions because they don't get their batteries changed or charged very often.
Imagine your wristwatch now telling you who's calling on your phone and showing your text messages.
The industry group behind the Bluetooth standard planned to announce Tuesday that chips for the new, low-energy version of Bluetooth will be ready in a few months, and will probably show up in consumer products by the holidays.
"It's going to enable an entirely new market for Bluetooth and allow it to be used in a category of products that Bluetooth just couldn't be used in before," said Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
He said he believes health and fitness products like pedometers and glucose monitors could be a big new market for Bluetooth. Some of them have their own, proprietary wireless technologies, but the standardization brought by Bluetooth could make them cheaper and allow them to connect to many more devices.
Bluetooth-equipped watches hit the market about five years ago. They were heavy and required charging every few weeks. They vibrated to alert the wearer to calls on his cell phone (if it was within range) and showed the number of the caller. The low-energy version of Bluetooth should enable these watches to be no bigger than regular watches and last more than a year on battery power, Foley said.
However, for a cell phone to connect to the watch, the cell phone needs to have a Bluetooth chip that's compatible with the new low-energy version. Phones with existing Bluetooth chips won't be able to connect.
The low-energy version has been delayed by a few years. Nokia Corp. started developing it in...
Thu, 22 Apr 10
Sarah Palin Ready To Take Stand in Hacking Trial
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A former college student charged with hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail account fears some jurors in heavily Republican East Tennessee could be dazzled when the conservative star testifies.
Jury selection begins Tuesday and Palin's testimony could soon follow in the case against 22-year-old David Kernell.
He was a University of Tennessee student majoring in economics when prosecutors say he hacked into the Yahoo! account Palin sometimes used for state business. At the time she was Alaska's governor and the GOP candidate for vice president.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips has denied a defense motion to have prospective jurors answer a questionnaire asking if they have strong political feelings about Palin. Kernell's attorney, Wade Davies, cited Palin's speaking slot at a tea party movement convention and frequent television appearances. She is hugely popular with conservatives.
Convictions on all four felony charges -- identity theft, wire fraud, intentionally accessing Palin's e-mail account without authorization and obstructing an FBI investigation -- could send Kernell to prison for up to 50 years.
"If I was the individual being charged I would be concerned, particularly the other party," East Tennessee State University political analyst David Briley said. "Politics and religion are pretty close to the vest here."
Kernell's father, Democratic Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, has served in the Tennessee House since 1974. He has not been linked to the case against his son, and he declined to be interviewed Monday.
An attorney for Palin, Thomas Van Flein of Anchorage, Alaska, said in an e-mail that the former governor has been subpoenaed by prosecutors "and she will honor that commitment." Van Flein declined to comment about the case or about how Palin feels about it.
Prosecutors predicted the trial could last up to 10 days but would not say when Palin would testify. Kernell has been free on bond since pleading not guilty after...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Apple Second-Quarter Net Income Leaps 90 Percent
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Apple says its net income in the most recent quarter jumped 90 percent, helped by strong iPhone and Macintosh computer sales.
Its results blew past Wall Street's expectations.
Apple Inc. says it sold nearly 9 million of its popular smart phones in the three months that ended March 27, more than double sales from a year ago.
The company sold almost 3 million Macs, a 33 percent increase. IPod unit sales edged down 1 percent, but Apple still sold 10 million of the digital players.
Apple says it earned $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per share. Revenue rose 49 percent to $13.5 billion.
Analysts expected Apple to earn $2.45 per share on $12.04 billion in revenue.
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Google Hackers Reportedly Targeted Password System
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Last year's brazen cyberattack on Google's servers, believed to have originated in China, was directed at a system that controls access to the business and e-mail applications that have made the company a leader in cloud computing, according to new information Tuesday. The system was known as Gaia, and has since been named Single Sign-on, allowing cloud users to access numerous Google applications without repeated password entries.
Up until now it was not known what Google lost during the two-day attack, which likely targeted its source code.
But a person identified as having direct knowledge of the investigation told The New York Times that cyberthieves gained access through an employee's personal computer to a software repository used by the Gaia development team.
The attack began with a message to a Google employee in China via Microsoft Messenger that contained a link to the hackers' web site, which then enabled the intruders to enter the system, search for the source code, and possibly plant Trojans.
The Gmail accounts of individual users were apparently not compromised, the Times reported.
The incident, first disclosed by Google on Jan. 12, has been traced to two universities in China, Shanghai Jiaotong and Lanxiang Vocational School. It's not known if the hackers were students or if servers were hijacked as a launchpad for the attack.
Several other large technology companies, including Adobe Systems and Intel, were targeted around the same time.
After studying the attacks known as Aurora, Paul Kurtz, chief technology officer of McAfee, wrote last month that many companies have tightly locked "front doors" on their systems but insufficient measures inside their servers to limit access once they have been compromised.
"Many organizations have tight security around financial systems and other mission-critical systems, but leave their intellectual-property repositories broadly accessible," Kurtz wrote on his blog. The company...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Cybercrime Toolkits for Neophytes Pose a Global Threat
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The ready availability of attack toolkits is making it easier than ever for even neophyte attackers to compromise computers and steal information, Symantec says in a new Internet security report released Monday. Social-networking sites are also providing cybercriminals with the means to launch attacks on enterprises by leveraging the abundance of personal information available about key corporate executives.
According to Symantec, 75 percent of the enterprises it recently surveyed had experienced some form of cyberattack in 2009. One reason is the increasing popularity of online banking, which Symantec credited with boosting threats to confidential files from 83 percent in 2008 to 98 percent last year.
"Attackers have evolved from simple scams to highly sophisticated espionage campaigns targeting some of the world's largest corporations and government entities," said Symantec Senior Vice President Stephen Trilling. "The scale of these attacks -- and the fact that they originate from across the world -- makes this a truly international problem requiring the cooperation of both the private sector and world governments."
The advent of inexpensive cybercrime attack toolkits has lowered the bar to entry, Trilling noted. For example, a Zeus (Zbot) toolkit priced around $700 -- or in some cases available for free download -- automates the process of creating customized malware capable of stealing personal information.
Variants of the Zeus kit use spam to lure surfers to a web site that uses social engineering or that exploits a browser vulnerability to install the bot on a victim's computer, Symantec said.
"The bot then allows remote access to the computer and can be used to steal information such as the user's online banking credentials," the report noted. "Each bot can then be used to send additional spam runs to compromise new users."
Moreover, attackers have learned to employ social-engineering techniques to lure unsuspecting users to malicious...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
New BlackBerry OS 6.0 May Catch Up To Rivals
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Research In Motion may not be ahead of the curve, but it's taking some bold steps with a new operating system for its popular BlackBerry smartphones. The Canadian phone maker is close to releasing version 6.0 of its BlackBerry OS, published reports say.
The current OS has drawn complaints from BlackBerry users that RIM hopes to correct. The new OS is also expected to let RIM better compete with rivals, including the Apple iPhone and Google's Android operating system.
"While the BlackBerry OS has enabled users to do what they want -- e-mail, browse, social networking, apps, etc. -- the experience has left a stale taste in their mouths," said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst. "Most people don't like the user interface, navigation and overall feel to it."
"Meanwhile, other operating systems have gotten major tune-ups (Palm's webOS), are about to hit with something completely different (Windows Phone 7 Series), or came out of the gate swinging (Android)," Llamas added. "What these all have in common is an experience that is at once seamless and intuitive."
RIM would not provide any details on the new operating system. "RIM's policy is to decline comment on rumors or speculation," said spokesperson Rachel Colley.
Analysts expect RIM to release an OS with a better browser, since the existing one leaves much to be desired. RIM's acquisition of TorchMobile last year and Co-CEO Mike Lazardis' comments at the Mobile World Congress led to expectations of an improved browsing experience.
"Right now, the current browser available, if it is the one that comes with the device, leaves much to be desired," Llamas said. "It is hard to view, type into, and navigate around. And since TorchMobile is WebKit-based, I'm expecting to see something much smoother. My sense is that for a very good browser experience, it has...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Privacy Officials Ask Google CEO To Respect Privacy
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Privacy officials from 10 countries complained Monday to Google about its Buzz and Street View services. A letter sent to CEO Eric Schmidt called for the search giant to follow "fundamental privacy principles" when it develops other such services.
The letter was written by Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and cosigned by comparable officials in nine other nations -- France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. It said the signers were concerned that "privacy rights for the world's citizens are being forgotten" in new Google products. Google has not commented on the letter.
The privacy officials said Google Buzz, "in essence," took Gmail, a private one-to-one e-mail service, and turned it into a social-networking service. Initially, Buzz automatically created "followers" from the list of a user's most frequent contacts. This was done, according to the letter, "without adequately informing Gmail users about how this new service would work or providing sufficient information to permit informed consent decisions," and it therefore violated a basic principle that users should be able to control their private information.
In the letter, Stoddart and colleagues noted that the uproar about making personal information public "should have been readily apparent." They added that the Google Buzz rollout in early February "betrayed a disappointing disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws."
The letter also noted that "launching a product in 'beta' form is not a substitute for ensuring that new services comply with fair-information principles before they are introduced." It conceded that Google, "to your credit," apologized and quickly tried to repair the damage.
Google's Street View was also the object of the privacy commissioners' ire. It was launched in some countries, they said, "without due consideration of privacy and data-protection laws and cultural norms."
Six points are articulated in the...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Apple Requests Return of 'Lost' iPhone 4G Prototype
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Given that there is a substantial rumor industry that traffics in details about upcoming Apple products, the recently emerged photos of an alleged next-generation Apple iPhone prototype could reasonably be viewed with suspicion. But now it appears the photos are genuine, as Apple's legal department has formally asked for the prototype back.
The prototype of Apple's 4G iPhone was reportedly discovered last month on the floor of a San Francisco Bay area bar, where it had been lost by an Apple employee. The device was purchased by a technology site, Gizmodo, and photos and details were published on that site and others. On Monday, Gawker Media editorial director Brian Lam reported that he received a letter from the head of Apple's legal department requesting the return of the prototype. Gawker Media owns Gizmodo.
"It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple," the letter from Apple Senior Vice President and General Counsel Bruce Sewell said. "This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple." Sewell concludes by asking for information about "where to pick up the unit."
Gizmodo has said it bought the lost prototype from the person who found it for $5,000.
Lam told news media he provided Sewell with the name of someone who could arrange for the return, and that he "didn't know it was stolen." His reference to "stolen" is unclear, since the prevailing story indicates it was lost and found, although it's not clear exactly how Gizmodo became aware of it.
Apple reportedly wiped the unit remotely once it went missing. According to news reports, the employee who misplaced it in the bar was Apple software engineer Gray Powell, and the device was left on a bar stool at Gourmet Haus Staudt in...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Teens Prefer Texting To Talking -- Except for Mom & Dad
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In what looks like at least partial confirmation of Microsoft's strategy with its KIN social phones, a new Pew Internet & American Life Project study puts a spotlight on teen cell-phone use. The research shows that text messaging among American teens spiked in the past 18 months, from 38 percent of teens texting friends daily in February 2008 to 54 percent in September 2009. In fact, the mobile phone has become the communication hub of choice for most American teens.
Texting is now the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends. Actual phone calls are a close second, Pew reported. What's more, 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell phones, up 45 percent from 2004, and teens view the devices as indispensable.
Does this mean more handset makers will target the teen market? "There's always room for more devices," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "We're seeing younger and younger demographics get phones, and we're also seeing more sophisticated users across all demographics. So I think the functionality is going to grow."
Pew found that text messaging has become the primary way teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, e-mail, instant messaging, and voice calling. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens.
Drilling deeper into the social data, 72 percent of teens -- and 88 percent of teen cell-phone users -- send text messages. That's up from 51 percent of texting teens in 2006. And more than half of teens -- 54 percent -- are daily texters.
Frequency is one thing, and quantity is another. Pew reported teens are sending large quantities of text messages every day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month. About a third send more than 100 texts...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
iPad 3G Debut Likely To Boost Sales Despite Price
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Just as the iPad hype is starting to wind down, Apple is preparing to release the much-anticipated iPad 3G. On Tuesday, Apple said the 3G models of its iPad will be delivered on April 30 to U.S. customers who pre-ordered. The device will be available in Apple retail stores the same day, starting at 5 p.m.
Apple likes to point out that the iPad is thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. Apple said the iPad also offers up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.
"I think more and more consumers will begin to gravitate toward the 3G model because it's a pay-as-you-go business," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "With the 3G model, consumers are not locked into a contract and get an awful lot of flexibility as a result of not having to constantly be on the hunt for a Wi-Fi network."
The iPad 3G is half an inch thick and weighs 1.6 pounds. The iPad lets users browse the web, read and send e-mail, view and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read e-books, and other tasks with a multi-touch user interface.
Consumers who need a little help setting up the device -- including customizing it by setting up e-mail and loading apps from the App Store -- can get free "Personal Setup" service when they purchase the iPad at Apple retail stores. Apple retail stores are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about the new product.
How will the 3G model impact sales? "Certainly, the early adopters who couldn't wait bought those first devices. I suspect some of those folks...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Augmented Reality Used for Real Estate Search
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Try out real estate "augmented reality" mobile phone applications and the cascade of thoughts goes something like this:
Very cool. Just hold up the mobile phone, peer through the camera view and scores of properties for sale and rent will suddenly be visible, like some super x-ray!
Here we go. Hmmm. Nothing.
OK, maybe if I just spin around a little. There!
Wait. What's with the floating dots? Is that it? And the nearest property is a mile away, beyond several buildings and a highway overpass. How is this helpful again?
So-called augmented reality technology works on mobile phones like the iPhone 3GS or models with Google's Android operating system. It uses the phones' camera, GPS, compass and Internet features to conjure a computer-enhanced, virtual overlay of objects in one's surroundings. The concept is similar to a heads-up display one might find in a jet fighter cockpit.
The usefulness of some augmented reality apps can be instantly recognized -- say you find yourself in an unfamiliar neighborhood looking for the nearest bus stop or subway entrance. Augmented reality can point you in the right direction and show you the relative distance to your destination.
But as a tool for finding homes for sale or rent, augmented reality produces results that feel more like a novelty than a novel improvement on the mobile real estate search experience.
One reason is the technology, while used by the military for years, is still relatively new for applications like real estate search, says Larry Fisher, research director for NextGen, a unit of ABI Research, a technology trend tracking firm.
"It can be useful, but ... it's really limited at this point," Fisher said. "It's going to take a couple of years to develop."
A good way to start is to punch up your mobile phone's app store and download Layar. It's available on iTunes...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
'Cloud' Music Idea Goes Mainstream
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There's no more need to own songs before being able to listen to them at your convenience.
No more stacking your CDs on shelves or buying music to download onto computers and mobile devices. Virtually the whole world of recorded music is at your fingertips at any time, for a subscription, over the Internet.
Services that make this scenario possible haven't proven very popular yet. But now price cuts and advances in technology could finally drive the idea to the mainstream.
For instance, Rhapsody International Inc. and Thumbplay Inc. now offer the ability to pick almost any song or album and play it instantly on a mobile device that connects to the Internet over cell phone networks. The services are $10 a month.
Justin Darcy, a 32-year-old sales director at a resort company in San Francisco, says he consumes so much music it would cost him $10,000 a year if he didn't have a Rhapsody plan. He calls it "one of the greatest values in consumer goods I've ever come across."
Given the obvious benefit of being able to listen to millions of songs as if they were in your personal stash, why haven't services like these gotten more use?
Partly because of poor marketing, previously clunky execution and the fact that people are more familiar with compact discs and downloading songs from Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store. People who spend less than $120 a year on music also wouldn't see the subscription plans as such a great deal.
But the music providers hope they can get more customers by making the services easier to use, taking advantage of increasingly robust cell phone networks to deliver the music. And in general, consumers are getting more comfortable using many kinds of services that rely on files stored on distant computers and accessed remotely, a concept known as "cloud...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Microsoft Supplier in China Breaks Labor Laws
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Two factories that make Microsoft Corp. products in southern China violated overtime regulations and failed to properly register the use of workers aged 16 to 18, a monitoring group said Monday.
The problems at the plants in the city of Dongguan were initially raised last week by the National Labor Committee, a New York-based nonprofit that tracks the treatment of foreign workers by U.S. companies. The group alleged that the teen laborers worked long shifts and were not allowed to use bathrooms during working hours at the plants, owned by Taiwan-based KYE Systems Corp.
The factories make Webcams, computer mice and Xbox controllers for Microsoft, the world's biggest software company.
Investigators with Dongguan's human resources bureau said in a report that factories are allowed to hire workers between the ages of 16 and 18 as long as the laborers are registered with the authorities. The KYE factories had 385 such workers -- most supplied by vocational schools -- and 326 weren't properly registered, the report said.
Employees were also forced to work an excessive amount of overtime in March, clocking about 280 hours, the report said. Copies of the labor contract also weren't given to employees, the document said.
But officials said that based on interviews with workers, there were no restrictions against using the restroom during shifts. The report said the company's policy was to give workers 10-minute breaks for every two hours worked.
KYE Systems Corp. spokesman Lai Jin-hui told The Associated Press, "Assembly line workers are allowed to go to bathroom only if they report the need."
Lai insisted that factories did nothing wrong regarding overtime and had followed regulations that limit the workweek to 60 hours. But Lai acknowledged that the factories failed to properly register workers and would now fix the problem.
The human resources bureau report said the factories have been ordered...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
Full of Hot Air? Check Your Computer's Cooling System
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A loud fan on a computer can be a pain, but one that can sometimes be fixed by ensuring proper ventilation.
Patrick Weiss, a Samsung product manager, says the first step to cutting down on annoying noise is always to make sure the computer is standing so that air can properly circulate through the housing.
Notebook ventilation openings are particularly easy to block. Just leaving the notebook on a soft sofa can lead to obstruction.
"If the grille is blocked, there will initially be grinding sounds," says Markus Schuetz, who works for PC manufacturer Dell.
Temperatures in the processor core can reach 105 degrees Celsius if the notebook sinks into the pillows. The ventilator will start making more sounds as it spins more and the casing will get hot because no more cooling air is circulating. In extreme conditions, the device will shut down.
Over an extended period, this kind of stress can reduce the life expectancy of the ventilation system, says Sven Schlicker, a ventilation development engineer in Germany.
Extreme heat, severe temperature changes or dusty or moist environments aren't the only factors that can cause internal problems in a computer. Lint from wool sweaters or blankets can also block ventilation paths. That's why it's always better to use a notebook on a hard surface.
Aged ventilation systems responsible for the processor, graphics card or housing can also lead to system interruptions in older desktops. But Schlicker says anybody can easily replace the cooling system for a computer's housing.
The cooling system for a processor or a graphics card is a little tougher. After all, there's a lot of different processors out there and the ventilation system has to fit exactly onto the mainboard. It's not work recommended for amateurs.
There's no option for users to swap out components with a laptop, says Arnt Kugler of chip.de, a...
Wed, 21 Apr 10
A Battle for Control of Your Online Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72828
Internet users these days are finding themselves boxed ever more into a corner. Criminals come at them from one side, looking for private data for illegal enterprises. Government agencies approach from the other side, eager to keep tabs on one and all.
And that's to say nothing of online retailers, who have gotten so good at gathering data that they tend to get people to give up their personal information willingly.
Such is the fate of anyone who wanders into cyberspace -- a life of trying to protect one's privacy while surrounded by people who just want him to click on one ad that might give you what you want, but at the cost of some of your most important secrets.
After all, the wider a net these gatherers spread, the more likely they'll get something valuable. That's why so many companies have started to ask so many questions online -- some of which are not at all necessary -- in the hopes they can nudge people into offering up something useful.
"Here's the average person's chance to ask themselves if they really want to use the services of a business that gathers up more data than is needed," says Susanne Dehmel, who focuses on data protection for the German computer trade association BITKOM.
It's impossible to avoid some information being gathered up. Every online store -- indeed every Web site -- monitors the IP address of those who visit. That's not much use by itself, says Dehmel, since those addresses are dynamic, generated new for each visit and without identifying links to the individual user.
That's where cookies come in. "These are tiny crumbs of information, which my browser saves when it visits a site and which operators can evaluate," says Jo Bager of German computer magazine c't. Usually that evaluation isn't done by the...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
HP Declares War on Cisco with a Faster Data Center
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72849
Just months after its 3Com acquisition, Hewlett-Packard made an announcement Monday aimed at Cisco Systems. HP said its new Cisco-free internal data center is seeing faster information throughput and lower energy consumption running entirely on HP networking equipment.
Located in Houston, the new data center is one of six internal facilities running HP's worldwide business operations. The new center includes 34 3Com core routing devices, more than 300 HP ProCurve switches, and four TippingPoint intrusion-detection and protection devices.
"This networking technology provides a true competitive choice in a space that has needed more choices for almost two decades," said Randy Mott, executive vice president and chief information officer at HP. "These new products, along with HP's Converged Infrastructure portfolio, are something every CIO should be taking advantage of."
Mott's comments are a direct assault on Cisco. The new HP Networking portfolio, which integrates 3Com's portfolio, paves the way for twice the port and capacity density and a 50 percent reduction in power consumption from previous solutions. Using an architecture built on open standards, HP said its global IT organization worked with HP Networking teams to redesign the architecture with new products.
"We're not locked into proprietary protocols that many in the IT industry are familiar with, and this gives us more flexibility to change as our business grows," said Ken Gray, vice president of infrastructure at HP. "We're Cisco-free in this data center and have a plan to extend this freedom across all of our internal IT data centers next year."
Gray's war-like comment -- and its validity -- may concern Cisco. Zeus Kerravala, a vice president at the Yankee Group, said 3Com's data portfolio is strong and the majority of the lineup has been built out over the past couple of years with a differentiating philosophy of openness.
"While a lot of the...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Cisco Boosts Telepresence with $3.4B Acquisition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72848
An erupting volcano in Iceland didn't stop Cisco Systems from announcing it has completed its final bid for Tandberg, a company it first attempted to acquire in 2009. Cisco paid $3.4 billion for the telepresence company, both companies announced Monday.
Through its voluntary acquisition of Tandberg, San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco will build up its existing telepresence business, which provides videoconferencing collaboration to businesses.
"This has been five years' worth of marketing, and now we have crossed the chasm to scale," said Marthin De Beer, Cisco's senior vice president of products.
Because Iceland's volcanic eruption halted many flights out of the U.S., De Beer could not fly to Europe to join Tandberg CEO Fredrik Halvorsen to announce the deal. Instead, using Cisco TelePresence technology, the executives announced what the deal means for its partners, customers and the videoconferencing market.
Tandberg's full product line will be integrated into Cisco TelePresence, according to the companies.
Interoperability will become more significant as people work across different platforms, according to Cisco. And the plan is to provide Cisco TelePresence services in the cloud, both on premises and through hosted options.
One of the first noticeable changes will be with personnel. Halvorsen will move from his role as CEO of Tandberg to senior vice president and leader of the new Cisco TelePresence Technology Group.
Next on the agenda will be to integrate the two companies' technologies, which will begin in 12 to 18 months, Halvorsen said.
A major marketing transition is also under way. Cisco, which has been familiar as a routing and switching products provider, plans to evolve those areas of its business.
"We are going to take what we have today in video technology and go into new markets, including sports, entertainment, education and health care," De Beer said.
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Photos of 4G iPhone Found in Bar Deemed Credible
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72847
Four G or not 4G, that is the question. Apple hasn't even set an official date for the release of its latest iPhone version, but photos of a prototype reportedly found in a bar in California have touched off a typical round of free publicity for the world's fastest-growing smartphone.
Photos posted by Gizmodo and Engadget show a sleek black 20GB device similar to current iPhones, but with a flat, glassy back, featuring two volume buttons, a front-facing video camera and a back camera with a bigger lens and a flash, a second microphone for noise cancellation, and a SIM card slot that would accommodate a micro-SIM for user identification.
Last week a different blog posted a photo of what it said was the back plate of the 4G iPhone, which appeared silver-gray.
The newer photos prompted pages of debate on blogs and comment boards about whether they were of an authentic device or a knockoff. Some believe it's an authentic 4G iPhone in a 3G-like casing. But for some critics it was hard to believe a company that prides itself on controlled releases of its products would have allowed a beta device to disappear outside of its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
An Apple spokesperson didn't reply to our e-mail seeking confirmation or denial of the photos in time for publication.
Gizmodo, insisting it's confident that the device is real, cited reports that Apple has acknowledged one is missing, that the device was running iPhone OS 4 before that system was unveiled, and that the device seemed to have been shut down remotely soon after it was found, making it impossible to get past the connect-to iTunes screen. Further, reverse engineering showed that it was made of authentic Apple components.
Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg said the specifications released by the two blogs...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Adobe Prepares Flash Player and AIR for Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72846
Adobe Systems has begun accepting applications from testers for the first public betas of both Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0, which promise to bring advanced multimedia capabilities to smartphones. Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0, which are optimized for high performance on mobile screens, have been specifically designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer, more immersive user experience.
With the release of Adobe Flash Player 10.1, developers will be able to use the same Flash Player on mobile devices and the desktop. Since posting separate sign-up pages for registrants over the weekend, developers have already been able to rapidly create "several cool games and applications," noted Adobe Platform Evangelist Lee Brimelow in a blog.
"Jobe Makar, the lead developer at Electrotank, has posted his thoughts on the ease and speed of development as compared to his experiences with the often-painful Apple processes," Brimelow wrote. "He has posted a couple of videos of a game that he was able to port to Android in a few hours, and that 'includes downloading and installing the SDKs, walking through a Hello World tutorial, charging the device for a little while, and making some minor code edits.'"
The renewed emphasis on platform development for smartphones is part of Adobe's strategy to counter Apple's new iPhone OS 4.0 software developers kit language, which, according to Brimelow, appears to make creating applications in any non-Apple-approved languages a violation of terms.
"What they are saying is that they won't allow applications onto their marketplace solely because of what language was originally used to create them," Brimelow wrote. "This is a frightening move that has no rational defense other than wanting tyrannical control over developers and, more importantly, wanting to use developers as pawns in their crusade against Adobe."
The bad news from Apple...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Microsoft Office 2010 Suite Released to Manufacturing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72842
Microsoft's crown jewel is moving into release. Late last week, the Office 2010 suite of business applications was released to manufacturing (RTM) along with SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010.
As noted by Microsoft corporate Vice President Takeshi Numoto on the Office 2010 engineering blog, "RTM is the final engineering milestone of a product release." The suite was first released as a public beta last November, and Microsoft said more than 7.5 million people -- three times the number for Office 2007 -- have downloaded the beta version.
Volume-license customers with active Software Assurance (SA) for these products will be able to download them through the Volume Licensing Service Center, beginning April 27. May 1 is the date that customers without SA can begin purchasing through volume licensing from Microsoft's partners.
The official launch is scheduled for May 12, when there will be product demos, testimonials and interviews with members of the project team. In June, the apps will become available in retail stores in the U.S., although pre-ordering can be done now.
In the feedback received from the millions of beta users, Microsoft said 90 percent found the new suite to be an improvement over the current version.
Among other well-received new features and enhancements, Numoto noted that users felt the Backstage view makes the suite a "better overall experience." Backstage allows a user to organize all the features and capabilities for a given document for easy access to sharing, printing, permission management, and other functions.
Another feature popular among beta users is Conversation View, which lets the Outlook in-box and other mail folders be organized by date and conversation. Messages with the same subject, for instance, can appear as expanded or collapsed threads of a conversation.
In Excel, a new graphical representation of data that fits in...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Spycam Case Widens with 'Thousands' of Images Cited
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72827
The plot is thickening in the Lower Merion spycam case. A new motion filed late last week by a student's parents contends the Pennsylvania school district captured thousands of images of students without their knowledge via software on their school-supplied laptops.
When the case broke in the winter, school officials said only a handful of images had been taken, and only in response to reports of stolen laptops. But the new motion also mentions that web-site visits and online chats were monitored.
In February, the family of teenager Blake Robbins filed suit against the school district for invasion of privacy, theft of private information, and "unlawful interaction and access" to electronic communication without his or his family's knowledge or authorization.
The Robbins family said it first learned of the remote-monitoring capability on Nov. 11, when an assistant principal at one of the district's two high schools told Blake that he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home," according to the original lawsuit, and the evidence was a photograph from the webcam in his laptop. As alleged in the suit, the father then verified with the assistant principal that the district can remotely activate and view through the webcam of the son's laptop -- a surveillance capability unknown to the family or other families.
The motion indicates that, following a court order requiring that photos be preserved as evidence, the family discovered that more than 400 photos of Robbins had been taken surreptitiously, as well as "thousands" of other students.
The motion also indicates that the collection of photos, instant messages, and web visits were viewed by the IT and administrative staff as entertainment. One e-mail cited called the collection of images "like a little soap opera," and information coordinator Carol Cafiero is said to have responded, "I...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Symantec Automatically Optimizes Data Storage
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72825
Simplified storage management. Efficient use of existing resources. Cost and complexity reduction. These are all top-of-mind issues for today's large enterprises, and Symantec is moving to address these issues by combining its just-enhanced Veritas Storage Foundation and its Thin Reclamation API industry standard.
With support for Windows, Unix and Linux, Storage Foundation offers thin optimization functionality that Symantec said fully automates storage optimization in thin environments to eliminate waste and ensure only the physical storage that's needed is allocated to support real application data.
"Using thin provisioning capabilities to both reclaim capacity and to minimize overall storage usage can easily save enterprise data centers hundreds of thousands of dollars or more each year, and, as such, these tools should be strongly considered by any organization that has not yet adopted them," said Mark Peters, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Moreover, users can gain further benefit by seeking integrated, cross-platform management solutions that will help them with the migration and storage reclamation across their heterogeneous networks."
In addition to previously announced support from 3PAR, Hitachi Data Systems and IBM, Symantec also announced that Compellent, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard and NetApp have added support for its industry standard Thin Reclamation API. The API makes possible automated space reclamation for thin provisioning storage arrays in heterogeneous environments.
Symantec's moves are timely. A recent storage study from TheInfoPro reveals that thin provisioning became more than twice as likely to be a top initiative for Fortune 1000 storage professionals over the last six months. Thin provisioning is a storage array-based technology to efficiently provision storage on demand to applications and maximize storage utilization.
"Organizations are looking to improve storage utilization in their mission-critical environments by implementing solutions that can provision, pool and reassign storage capacity as needed," said Chris Powers, director of the StorageWorks...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Study: Young Adults Care About Online Privacy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72820
All the dirty laundry younger people seem to air on social networks these days might lead older Americans to conclude that today's tech-savvy generation doesn't care about privacy.
Such an assumption fits happily with declarations that privacy is dead, as online marketers and social sites such as Facebook try to persuade people to share even more about who they are, what they are thinking and where they are at any given time.
But it's not quite true, a new study finds. Despite mounds of anecdotes about college students sharing booze-chugging party photos, posting raunchy messages and badmouthing potential employers online, young adults generally care as much about privacy as older Americans.
The report, from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania, is among the first quantitative studies looking at young people's attitudes toward privacy as government officials and corporate executives alike increasingly grapple with such issues.
"It is going to counter a lot of assumptions that have been made about young adults and their attitudes toward privacy," said Mary Madden, senior researcher at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. She was not part of the study but reviewed the report for The Associated Press ahead of Thursday's release.
Among the findings:
- Eighty-eight percent of people of all ages said they have refused to give out information to a business because they thought it was too personal or unnecessary. Among young adults, 82 percent have refused, compared with 85 percent of those over 65.
- Most people -- 86 percent -- believe that anyone who posts a photo or video of them on the Internet should get their permission first, even if that photo was taken in public. Among young adults 18 to 24, 84 percent agreed -- not far from the 90 percent among those 45 to 54.
- Forty percent...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
AMD Scores First-Quarter Profit as PC Market Strengthens
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72817
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. returned to profitability in the first quarter as the world's No. 2 microprocessor maker benefited from a strengthening computer market.
The company also got a lift from an accounting boost related to the manufacturing division it spun off last year. But more importantly, the quarter's numbers suggest that AMD is being helped by broad trends that could lift many kinds of technology suppliers.
This week AMD's main rival in the business of selling the chips that are the "brains" of computers, Intel Corp., said that its first-quarter profit nearly quadrupled. It said consumer demand for laptops and corporate spending on computer servers were strong. Market research firms IDC and Gartner Inc. said personal computer shipments jumped more than 20 percent in the first quarter, which was more than expected.
AMD's CEO, Dirk Meyer, described spending on servers as "pretty healthy" and said on a conference call with analysts that he's optimistic the trend will hold through the rest of the year. However, he wouldn't discuss his projections for corporate spending on personal computers, an area that has been slow to recover.
AMD said after the market closed Thursday that it earned $257 million, or 35 cents per share in the first quarter. In the same period last year AMD lost $416 million, or 66 cents per share.
Excluding the gain from the manufacturing spinoff, AMD would have earned 9 cents per share in the most recent quarter.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected AMD to lose 3 cents per share. That number doesn't compare directly to AMD's results because some analysts included the spinoff in their forecasts, while others didn't.
AMD's revenue jumped 34 percent to $1.57 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.54 billion. Those numbers do compare directly.
The company predicted that revenue would decline from the first to second quarter, in line with...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
March Video Game Retail Sales Climb Six Percent
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72812
After a rocky 2009 followed by two months of double-digit declines, U.S. retail sales of video game software, hardware and accessories finally saw an uptick in March.
Market researcher NPD Group said Thursday total video game sales climbed 6 percent from the same month a year earlier, to $1.52 billion. Strong sales of Nintendo's gaming systems, new "Pokemon" games and Sony Corp.'s "God of War III" helped boost results.
Software sales jumped 10 percent to $875.3 million, well above what most analysts were expecting. In addition to "God of War," which sold more than a million copies, two "Pokemon" games from Nintendo and "Final Fantasy XIII" from Square Enix were also top sellers. "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" from Electronic Arts Inc. was among the month's strongest-selling games as well.
Industry expectations were for software sales growth of about 3 percent, said Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich. The higher-than-expected March figures, he added, were driven by Nintendo, whose games sold much better than analysts had predicted.
Hardware sales dropped 4 percent to $440.5 million, in part because game console prices are lower than they were at this time last year. Nintendo's Wii system sold 557,500 units, and its portable DS, 700,800. Once again, the company easily surpassed rival console makers, with Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 selling 338,400 units and Sony's PlayStation 3 selling 313,900.
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said supply constraints that had squeezed Wii sales in the past couple of months are easing up.
Sales of video game accessories rose 11 percent to $206.8 million.
Year-to-date video game sales were down 7 percent at the end of March compared with the same three-month period last year.
Earlier Thursday, Activision Blizzard Inc. raised its revenue and earnings forecast for the first quarter, citing strong global demand for its top games -- "World of...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Google Enjoys Stellar Quarter, But Shares Slide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72810
Coming off a stellar first quarter, Google Inc. seems to have regained the momentum that it lost shortly after the U.S. recession started in December 2007.
But it looks like it's going to take a lot longer for the Internet search leader's stock price to rebound to its pre-recession levels.
The shares fell $29.11, or 4.9 percent, to $566.19 in morning trading Friday, a day after the company released first-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations.
Earnings rose 37 percent and revenue surged 23 percent. The latter figure represented Google's highest growth rate since the summer of 2008.
Google rattled investors, though, by adding nearly 800 workers in the quarter, the most in two years, and vowing to spend heavily to hire even more employees, snap up smaller companies and develop more products beyond the Internet search advertising market that generates most of the company's profits.
The loosening pursestrings could crimp earnings growth. The increased spending also raised worries that Google might be abandoning some of the financial discipline that it exerted in late 2008 and last year as the recession deepened.
Patrick Pichette, Google's chief financial officer and the driving force behind the cost cutting, said the company remains "generous but frugal." He scoffed at the notion that Google would become a spendthrift now that it's thriving again.
"Hiring more people does not mean we are wasteful," he said in a Thursday interview. "It just means we have a great agenda."
Another possible concern: The average price paid for Google ads in the first quarter was 4 percent lower than the fourth quarter, traditionally a period of heavy demand because of the holiday shopping season. The average price was 7 percent higher than a year ago.
The sequential slowdown fed the theory that Google may be facing more pricing pressure as both Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine and Facebook's...
Tue, 20 Apr 10
Business Travel vs. Virtual Meetings: Which Is Best?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72790
For Greg Knight, a machinery company executive, being on the road is a key part of doing business. But in the last year, he and his colleagues have pondered every trip and asked: Would it be worth it?
"We really needed to look at, is this trip the difference between closing business?" says Knight, a vice president with AMT Machine Systems in Columbus, Ohio. "Is this necessary for some reason?"
Sometimes the company's employees would decide that a phone call or e-mail would do. "But ... there are times when nothing works as well as sitting in front of someone talking to them," he says. "We really rely on our people to be the best judge of when that is the case."
Companies are sending more of their workers back on the road this year after having slashed travel budgets and halted trips to save money during the recession. But even as the economy slowly rebounds, many business analysts and advisers say businesses will continue to carefully weigh when travel is necessary and when it makes more financial sense to have a staff member stay put and connect with a client or colleague by video screen or conference call.
"Right now, the focus for our members is looking at whether that trip brings value back to the company," says Megan Costello, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, whose membership comprises the people in companies who oversee travel. "There's a shift, a new way of doing things that I don't think will go away."
To make that first sales call, launch a product or close a deal, corporate travel experts such as Costello say businesses will probably decide a staff member needs to travel and see a client face-to-face.
But internal meetings are increasingly taking place through video conferences or webcasts.
American Express Business Travel...
Sun, 18 Apr 10
Boxee Plans Streaming App for Apple's iPhone and iPad
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72822
Coming soon to an iPhone or iPad near you: TV shows, movies and videos, streamed via Boxee. The video browser that took content from the small screens of computers to bigger TV screens is ready to come full circle.
New York-based Boxee is looking for a developer fluent in the Apple operating system, according to published reports Friday. Boxee is also hoping to get onto Google's Android-based mobile devices.
Boxee calls itself the "first social media center," offering a free, open-source program compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux and Apple TV that connects computers to TVs via DVI or HDMI connections. In December, the company, headed by Avner Ronen, unveiled the Boxee Box, a cable-box-like device designed by D-Link that can either link to computers or access the Internet via Wi-Fi to put content directly on TVs. The device, expected to sell for under $200, is likely to ship at the end of June.
Ronen told the Los Angeles Times he had been working on developing more content partners, social media and a payment platform, but this month's release of Apple's iPad changed his focus to mobile apps. Boxee has already developed an app for Apple that lets the iPhone work as a remote control.
"Having the iPad in our hands bumped up that priority," Ronen told the Times. "We're going to try to get something very basic very quickly out there."
Andrew Kippen, Boxee's vice president of marketing, told us Friday that the company is in the "early stage" of developing an app and as yet has no agreement with Apple.
"We are looking for someone to design the app and figure out what kind of functionality we want to add to it," said Kippen, who added that like the original software, the app will be free. "We're very bullish on the...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
RIM Acquisition May Let BlackBerry Control Car Functions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72678
Research In Motion has put its buying power in motion with the acquisition of QNX Software Systems. The Waterloo, Canada-based phone maker reached an agreement with QNX's parent company, Harman International, to acquire the company, RIM announced Friday.
By acquiring the Ottawa, Canada-based QNX, RIM will gain access to its open operating system, Neutrino. The open platform is used across many industry verticals, including telecommunications, medical, defense and automotive.
While QNX's software is used in life-critical systems such as air traffic control, surgical equipment, and nuclear power plants, it has been used most recently in casino gaming terminals and in-car infotainment systems.
The phone maker may be planning to integrate its BlackBerry smartphone functions with in-car audio and infotainment systems in the short term, but for the long term it looks as though RIM may be interested in providing dashboard and communications systems using BlackBerry functions.
"RIM is interested in expanding opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets," said Paul Leroux, a spokesperson for QNX. "No question, this is a positive development for QNX."
"In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals, adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio, and providing long-term synergies for the companies based on the significant and complementary OS expertise that exists within the RIM and QNX teams today," said RIM President Mike Lazaridis.
RIM's acquisition comes on the heels of QNX announcing that its technology has been licensed for more than 17 million in-vehicle systems worldwide -- a 130 percent increase since 2008.
Brands such as Acura, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Nissan and Toyota use QNX software for...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Groups Urge FTC Crackdown on Online Data Collection
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72677
Three consumer advocacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the online data-collection activities of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other companies that engage in real-time advertising auctions and data exchanges. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), and the World Privacy Forum believe an FTC investigation is warranted to counter what they characterize as growing consumer privacy threats.
Technologies that enable the real-time profiling, targeting and auctioning of consumer data are becoming commonplace as companies incorporate an array of outside data sources for sale online, warned PIRG's Ed Mierzwinski. "In just the last few years, a growing and barely regulated network of sellers and marketers has gained massive information advantages over consumers," he said.
Companies engaged in online profiling and behavioral targeting are employing practices that fail either to protect consumer privacy or provide for reasonable understanding of the data-collection process, including significant variations in how cookies are stored and the outside data sources used, the groups noted. Other practices include the instantaneous sale and trading of individual users without their permission or awareness, they wrote.
"Consumers will be most shocked to learn that companies are instantaneously combining the details of their online lives with information from previously unconnected offline databases without their knowledge, let alone consent," Mierzwinski said.
The groups characterize this system as a "massive stealth data-collection apparatus" that poses a significant threat to user privacy. "It also robs individual users of the ability to reap the financial benefits of their own data -- while publishers, ad exchangers, and information brokers" "cash in on this information," the consumer watchdogs observed.
U.S. consumers, especially during this time of economic hardship, need a commission that is proactive in protecting their interests, said CDD Executive Director Jeff Chester.
"FTC inaction has encouraged the data-collection and...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Apple Lets iPhone Users Control App Location Tracking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72676
Two months ago, Apple began rejecting content for its App Store that used the iPhone's GPS capabilities to provide location data for advertising. This fueled speculation that the computer giant was getting ready to roll out its own mobile advertising platform.
That's exactly what Apple did Thursday by introducing iAd, a partnership between the company and developers that allows the placement of ads inside applications, rather than have them pop up on searches, the way Google delivers ads.
"This could become bigger than television," said analyst Gerry Purdy of MobilTrax. "The iPhone will grow by a factor of 10 over the next few years, and become much more international. As an open ad platform, it could reach billions of impressions every day."
Apple in February told some developers that if their product "uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store review team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store."
Analysts expect at least some of the spots sold through iAd to be location-specific.
But on Thursday, Apple coupled its mobile-ad announcement with a demonstration of an optional iPhone OS 4.0 privacy feature that will warn users whenever an application is tracking their location. An arrow appears at the top of the iPhone's screen whenever a user is being tracked, and an arrow over an app's icon means it has asked for data within the past 24 hours, allowing the option to block further transmission.
"We're taking privacy several steps further," said iPhone software Senior Vice President Scott Forstall.
Currently, iPhone OS 3.0 simply asks users when they activate an application if they want to allow access to their location data.
"Apple wanted a system that gives people better control over the ability to...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Nokia Buys Content Geotagging Company MetaCarta
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72675
Nokia announced Friday it has purchased MetaCarta, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that offers "geographic intelligence" solutions. The world's largest handset maker said it will use MetaCarta's technology to add functionality in local searches on its devices.
The purchase price for the privately held company wasn't announced. MetaCarta said its technology is used for "finding anything written about any place," by combining geosearch and geotagging capabilities in order to make data and unstructured content location-aware and "geographically relevant."
Founded in 2001, MetaCarta offers products and services that connect various kinds of content to maps through its platform, geographic data modules, geoweb applications, and hosted content collections. The company has been cited in KMWorld's 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management and in Red Herring's Top 100 Private Companies.
According to his company bio, Chief Technology Officer John Frank founded the company when, during research at M.I.T. on microclimates in forests, he needed a different way to view documents based on geography.
The company's NewsMap is a hosted map mash-up that allows publishers, such as newspapers, to dynamically display locations of places mentioned in articles. The application parses text in a story, extracts any geographic locations mentioned, and then determines their latitude and longitude.
Those coordinates are then used to position icons over digital maps from Google, Microsoft or others. Users can roll over an icon and see text about that story and a link to the full article. Another offering, the company's GeoSearch News service, compiles stories from many sources and then similarly displays the locations.
Al Hilwa, program director at industry research firm IDC, said, "Nokia is doubling up on geolocating capabilities because they are becoming such an important part of mobile devices."
He said the use of geolocating is growing, adding that he expects it "will be integrated...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Netflix Will Offer Universal, Twentieth Century Fox Videos
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72662
Netflix on Friday announced deals with Universal Studios and Twentieth Century Fox. The distribution agreements will see movies from both studios released to Netflix customers through standard DVD, Blu-ray and instant streaming to TVs and computers.
Universal will make its new release titles available to Netflix members after a 28-day window. That gives Universal time for sales before making the titles available for rental and streaming. Fox is offering the same terms for its new releases.
"As the home entertainment market continues to evolve, we're exploring new and creative approaches to distribution with our key studio partners," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. "Our intent is to forge agreements that make sense for the companies involved and that, on the whole, improve the consumer experience and the movie ecosystem."
Netflix said the deals will help it better stock new releases for its members. The company also said it will get better prices on the products, which will let it purchase more units. Meanwhile, a license for Universal and Fox content gives the company's 12 million members a broader selection.
As Inside Digital Media Senior Analyst Phil Leigh sees it, Netflix has decided it doesn't want to pay the price Blockbuster is willing to pay to get new release DVDs as soon as Blockbuster does. Essentially, Blockbuster will get the DVDs a month earlier than Netflix, he said, but Blockbuster will have to pay a higher price.
"Netflix is deciding that their users will be more interested in instant streaming. Netflix is preparing its customers for the future, whereas Blockbuster is willing to pay to keep the customers that are living in the present and in the past," Leigh said. "The immediate advantage for Netflix is that this will make its instant-streaming catalog bigger. It will probably...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
FCC Will Push Broadband Plan Despite Court Setback
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72661
In the wake of a court decision earlier this week that invalidated some of its Internet regulatory authority, the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward with its ambitious National Broadband Plan. The agency said its plan will "connect all Americans to broadband, unleash innovation and investment," and enable the creation of jobs.
Chairman Julius Genachowski said the court decision "does not change" the policy goals of the FCC's plan, or its authority to do to. The decision, he said, "merely invalidated one technical, legal mechanism for broadband policy chosen by prior commissions."
But some observers have questioned if the ruling affects portions of the agency's ability to carry out its national plan. The FCC requires phone companies to act as "common carriers" so they treat all traffic fairly, and the agency has argued that it similarly has that authority for broadband data.
The court said the FCC needs explicit legal authority for this kind of regulation. The agency can appeal, and, alternatively or simultaneously, ask Congress for clearer rules. Another possibly is that the FCC can reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service.
On Tuesday, a panel of three U.S. Court of Appeals judges unanimously found that the FCC did not have the authority, under current classifications, to regulate Comcast's practice of monitoring bandwidth use by its customers. In January, the same court had asked the FCC to specify which statutes gave it such regulatory authority.
In August 2008, the FCC first began receiving complaints that Comcast was monitoring data use and restricting bandwidth without notifying customers. Some customers said they were targeted because they used peer-to-peer applications like BitTorrent to share movies.
The issue gained momentum because Net-neutrality proponents saw it as a real-world instance of abuse resulting from bandwidth regulation based on use. There were also unsubstantiated claims that Comcast was restricting...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Adobe Fires Back as Apple Bans Flash in iPhone OS 4.0
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72658
The battle between Apple and Adobe Systems over the iPad maker banning Flash technology from its tablet device, iPod touch, and iPhone is escalating. After Apple changed its iPhone OS developer's license to bar developers from using Flash to develop apps, Adobe cited Apple in its corporate filing.
In the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Adobe put the risk of Apple excluding Flash technology under its "risk factors" heading.
"To the extent new releases of operating systems or other third-party products, platforms or devices, such as the Apple iPhone or iPad, make it more difficult for our products to perform, and our customers are persuaded to use alternative technologies, our business could be harmed," Adobe wrote in the filing.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided not to include Flash support in the iPad, insulting Adobe Systems and opening the door for the software maker to find partners to rival Apple in tablets. Since then, Apple has seen competitors try to take advantage of its stance. But even though Adobe is on other platforms, the company seems concerned about its ability to compete.
"Apple's platform increasingly has become more important and more relevant to consumers over time. But this SEC filing is certainly taking the lack of support for Flash on Apple's platforms to the next level," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group.
"This looks like the beginning of asking for government intervention," he said. "Clearly, Adobe is ratcheting up the rhetoric, both in terms of speech and actions. How the government will perceive this or act on this is something that will have to be played out over time."
As Gartenberg sees it, Adobe's SEC filing underscores, from Adobe's perspective, how important Apple's platform is. Others think Apple may be the big loser in Jobs'...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Today's 3-D TV Generation Gap
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72648
A decade ago, I went to a 3D film festival to watch the 1953 movie House of Wax. I knew the cheesy special effects, like a paddle ball shooting at my face, would be silly and fun.
I wasn't expecting good acting. I was expecting to get a headache. I was given a pair of red and green paper glasses that drain the picture's color.
Fast-forward to today's 3D theatrical experience. Thanks to improved technology and a desire by studios to draw consumers into theaters in a world of myriad entertainment options, there's been a renaissance in 3D film and television. Hollywood studios are putting 3D content into more films, and TV makers are equipping sets to bring the technology into living rooms.
Beyond the trivial question of whether consumers will wear the glasses, the more important question for this new market is whether consumers will want to experience 3D outside of movie theaters, in their homes. There's a good chance it will happen. But millennial-generation consumers are more likely than older ones to embrace the new wave of 3D television.
James Cameron's blockbuster film Avatar demonstrated how 3D movies could attract a mass audience. Walt Disney (DIS) and DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA) plan to make all their future animated titles available in 3D. Filmmakers are also incorporating the technology into broadcasts of sporting events and concerts.
A number of the technical issues that induced headaches have been eliminated, partly due to the switch to digital filmmaking. There are currently four different 3D projection technologies in movie theaters, each with its own type of glasses. In all four systems, the old red and green cardboard glasses have been replaced by tinted shades that are easier on the eyes.
Yet it's striking how divergently consumers of different generations perceive 3D entertainment....
Sat, 10 Apr 10
'Mind-Reading' Brain-Scan Software Showcased
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72643
Mind reading may no longer be the domain of psychics and fortune tellers -- now some computers can do it, too.
Software that uses brain scans to determine what items people are thinking about was among the technological innovations showcased Wednesday by Intel Corp., which drew back the curtain on a number of projects that are still under development.
The software analyzes functional MRI scans to determine what parts of a person's brain is being activated as he or she thinks. In tests, it guessed with 90 percent accuracy which of two words a person was thinking about, said Intel Labs researcher Dean Pomerleau.
Eventually, the technology could help the severely physically disabled to communicate. And Pomerleau sees it as an early step toward one day being able to control technology with our minds.
"The vision is being able to interface to information, to your devices and to other people without having an intermediary device," he said.
For now, the project's accomplishments are far more modest -- it can only be used with prohibitively expensive and bulky fMRI equipment and hasn't yet been adapted to analyze abstract thoughts.
The system works best when a person is first scanned while thinking of dozens of different concrete nouns -- words like "bear" or "hammer." When test subjects are then asked to pick one of two new terms and think about it, the software uses the earlier results as a baseline to determine what the person is thinking.
The software works by analyzing the shared attributes of different words. For example, a person who is thinking of a bear uses the same parts of the brain that light up when he or she thinks of a puppy or something else furry. A person thinking of a bear also shows activity in the amygdala -- home of the fight-or-flight response.
While Intel...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Facebook Suit Marks 'Open Season' on Parents
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72641
The mother of a 16-year-old boy said she was only being a good mom when she locked him out of his Facebook account after reading he had driven home at 95 mph one night because he was mad at a girl. His response: a harassment complaint at the local courthouse.
"If I'm found guilty on this it is going to be open season" on parents, Denise New said Wednesday.
New, of Arkadelphia, a small college town an hour southwest of Little Rock, said many of her son's postings didn't reflect well on him, so after he failed to log off the social networking site one day last month, she posted her own items on his account and changed his password to keep him from using it again. But her son claims what she posted wasn't true, and that she's damaging his reputation.
"The things he was posting in Facebook would make any decent parent's eyes pop out and his jaw drop," Denise New said. "He had been warned before about things he had been posting."
Lane New, who lives with his grandmother, filed a complaint with prosecutors who approved a harassment charge March 26. Neither New would say Wednesday which items on his Facebook site the boy had found slanderous.
"I probably made maybe three, maybe four actual postings -- the rest of it was a conversation between my son, me and his personal friends," Denise New said.
In his handwritten complaint to prosecutors, Lane New asked that his mother have no contact with him and wrote, "Denise first hacked my Facebook and changed my password. She also changed the password to my e-mail so I could not change it. She posted things that involve slander and personal facts about my life."
Denise New acknowledged changing both passwords to keep her son from getting access to his...
Sat, 10 Apr 10
Photographers and Artists Sue Google
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72640
Groups representing photographers and artists on Wednesday accused Internet search leader Google of copyright infringement in a lawsuit that mirrors complaints book publishers and authors have made for years about the company's attempt to create the world's largest digital library.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks up to $150,000 in damages for each of tens of thousands of photographs, illustrations and graphic works that it said were copied, stored and electronically displayed without permission from copyright holders.
"Google is engaging in massive copyright infringement," claimed the lawsuit, which said Google "will continue its brazen acts of willful copyright infringement" unless stopped by the court.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc. is confident its Google Books project is compliant with U.S. and international copyright law, company spokesman Gabriel Stricker said in a statement.
"Google Books is an historic effort to make all of the knowledge contained within the world's books searchable online," the statement said. "It exposes readers to information they might not otherwise see, and it provides authors and publishers with a new way to be found."
The lawsuit adds a new wrinkle to the dispute over whether Google should be allowed to preside over and profit from the world's largest digital library.
A judge in Manhattan has not ruled whether to accept a $125 million settlement of a 5-year-old lawsuit groups representing authors and publishers brought against the company.
The deal would let Google include in its library so-called orphan works -- out-of-print books whose writers' could not be located -- and the works of other authors who decline to opt-out of the agreement after learning about it.
The U.S. Department of Justice has said the settlement might violate antitrust laws. The deal is opposed by some Google rivals, consumer watchdogs, academic experts, literary agents and even foreign governments.
A lawyer for Google has said...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Patch Tuesday Will Affect Every Version of Windows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72657
Microsoft on Thursday warned IT professionals about the heavy load of patches coming their way. On April 13, the next Patch Tuesday will see nearly a dozen patches to follow an unusually light release in March.
Specifically, Microsoft is releasing a total of 11 patches in April to address 25 vulnerabilities. Five of the patches are critical and involve remote code execution, and four require a restart. The five critical bulletins affect all versions of Windows software that are widely being used and could therefore cause an interruption in services affecting work flow and productivity levels.
"Overall, April's Patch Tuesday bulletin will address at least two critical vulnerabilities for every popular Microsoft platform in use today, so the impact will be widespread regardless of what operating systems companies are currently running," said Don Leatham, director of solutions and strategy at Lumension.
"This means IT departments will have to address and patch almost every machine in the organization. They should be prepared this month and plan ahead as to how they are going to test and then deploy these patches with minimal interruptions to employee productivity levels."
Noteworthy is the fact that there are two known public security advisories that Microsoft will address with these patches: 981169 and 97754.
Microsoft is addressing a vulnerability in VBScript that is exposed on supported versions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 through the use of Internet Explorer. Microsoft started investigating the issue on March 1. The results: The vulnerability cannot be exploited on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008. The main impact of the vulnerability is remote code execution.
The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows help files when using Internet Explorer. If a malicious web site displayed a specially...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Apple Moves Into Mobile Ads at iPhone 4.0 Event
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72656
Apple's iPhone OS 4.0, available in June, adds business features, multitasking, e-books and enhanced gaming. But arguably the biggest news to come from the computer giant's event Thursday was its unveiling of iAds, which stands to take mobile advertising to a new era.
"The big news is that Apple is now in the ad business," said technology consultant Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group in an interview from Apple's event, where CEO Steve Jobs previewed the new OS at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Using a mock-up of an ad for the upcoming Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 3, Jobs showed how ads placed on iPhone applications go beyond pop-ups to miniature web sites with features such as video and games. In other demos for Target and Nike, he showed how users might design footwear or stock dorm rooms. He said Apple wants to provide ads with "emotion" rather than boring content, and iAds keeps users within apps rather than redirecting them.
By tapping an X, the user can then return to the app where the ad was placed. Jobs said Apple will take a 40 percent cut of the ad revenue. The potential audience is huge: Jobs said 50 million iPhones and 35 million iPod touches have been sold.
"A device that was basically for communication and content consumption is now serving up these rich textual ads, which is very big news and also a shot across Google's bow," said Gartenberg. "You've got the ability to present your content in someone else's app as a micro-site with very rich content that is also in HTML 5." HTML 5 is intended to reduce the need for animation plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.
Google, which recently acquired the mobile ad firm AdMob while Apple acquired Quattro Wireless, relies on search results for its...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
HP's Memristor Could Revolutionize PC Design
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72655
Researchers at HP Labs have proven the existence of a fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering called the memristor -- short for memory resistor. The eventual commercial development of this revolutionary device promises to give PC users instant access to their machines for the first time.
The potential existence of the memristor was first envisioned and named in 1971 by Leon Chua, a distinguished faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley. Such a device, he theorized, could enable computers to retain the machine's system instructions -- even when powered off.
In a paper published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, a team of four HP Labs researchers led by R. Stanley Williams demonstrate that Chua's theory can finally be implemented in today's nanoscale chip environments. "This opens up a whole new door in thinking about how chips could be designed and operated," Williams said.
The memristor is potentially revolutionary because the device exhibits the unique property of retaining a history of the information it has acquired. Moreover, memristor properties cannot be duplicated by any combination of the other three fundamental circuit elements -- the resistor, capacitor and inductor.
One reason why it took 37 years for the existence of the memristor to become proven fact is because the device's atoms need to change location whenever voltage is applied. HP researchers say the occurrence of this change is far easier to detect in today's nanometer chip circuitry.
Based on their formulation of a physics-based model for a memristor, Williams and article coauthors Dmitri Strukov, Gregory Snider and Duncan Stewart were able to build nanoscale devices in the lab that demonstrate all of the operating characteristics that Chua originally theorized for the memristor.
"By providing a mathematical model for the physics of a memristor,...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Rumors Have Apple Already Working on a Smaller iPad
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72654
A cottage industry of rumors surrounded Apple's iPad until it was unveiled in late January. And now, only a few days out from the device's launch, a new report says the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is planning to release a mini-iPad.
DigiTimes, a publication that focuses on the electronics industries in China and Taiwan, is reporting that Apple is working on a smaller iPad that features a five- to seven-inch screen. The iPad currently has a 9.7-inch display.
According to the publication, the device will retail for under $400 and is planned for release during the first quarter next year. The least expensive iPad, the 16GB Wi-Fi, lists for $499.
A device of this size might be geared more toward users wanting to read e-books and consume various types of media than toward the users who want to write and conduct some computing activities. If an "iPad Nano" did emerge, it would likely be positioned directly against Amazon.com's Kindle, the Sony Reader, and Barnes & Noble's nook, among other e-readers.
The report is based on unnamed sources at components manufacturers, which, given the publication's focus and Apple's manufacturing structure, may be based in Asia.
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said he "wouldn't say it couldn't happen, but it would be unusual for Apple to release a 'tweener' product" not that long after the iPad's launch.
If Apple's plan had been to cover that end of the market, he added, "we probably would have seen the initial iPad being released with a seven-inch screen" instead of the 9.7-inch screen.
However, Rubin did say we might see an iPhone with a slightly larger screen. While the differences are literally measured within a few inches, an iPhone with a screen up to 1.5 inches larger might still...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Salesforce.com Expands Chatter Collaboration Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72653
Salesforce.com has added another layer of collaboration for its enterprise customers. The software company on Thursday added more features to Chatter, its cloud-computing collaboration platform.
After nearly two months of introducing the new platform to some customers, Salesforce.com has extended its Chatter beta program to more than 500 companies and launched the AppExchange 2 with ChatterExchange.
Salesforce.com, which reported a $1.3 million revenue run rate and nearly 72,500 customers in November, said Chatter is part of the evolution in cloud computing, a model it has stood behind since it was first introduced because it is much faster, easier and has a lower cost, according Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com.
"With today's announcement, salesforce.com is advancing the shift to Cloud 2, where productivity gains are going to come from real-time collaboration available on any device" Benioff said. "We've seen the future of enterprise software, and it looks more like Facebook on the iPad than Yahoo on the PC."
The collaboration platform, which resembles Facebook, gives customers the use of profiles, status updates, groups, feeds and document sharing at both the application and platform level. Chatter enables customers and ISVs to build applications that are collaboration apps as well as use the functionality of Chatter to create more productivity, according to Benioff.
There are now more than a dozen Chatter partner applications available in the ChatterExchange on AppExchange 2, including FinancialForce.com, Genius.com and Jobpartners, to name a few. More than 15 Force.com Labs apps are listed for free in ChatterExchange, including ChatterViz, Chatter Case Triage, Chatter Live Tag Cloud, and Chatter + Google Alerts.
Behind the Chatter platform are several features. Enterprise customers using Chatter will have the ability to create user profiles similar to Facebook's friends profiles. Chatter enables users to update what they are working on from anywhere. The update feature...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
iPad and Slate Reshape Category Defined by Kindle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72651
Apple's iPad, Hewlett-Packard's Slate, Amazon.com's Kindle. These and other entries are quickly swelling a category of mobile touchscreen devices with sizable screens and often without physical keyboards. Minute by minute, the products in this category are beginning to position themselves.
Before the iPad's launch last weekend, a lot of the discussion had been centered around whether Apple's newest offspring would totally usurp the Kindle's position as the leading e-reader. In part, this was propelled by various reports about the two companies' negotiations with major book publishers, which led Amazon to raise its prices for e-book versions of best sellers.
The e-reader versus iPad theme was also driven by the obvious interest of magazine publishers in the new Apple product, with the publishers jockeying for alliances and unveiling new media-based approaches for their magazines. If the iPad does establish a successful beachhead with magazines, it would be able to expand on the e-reading category.
But this is a new week, and HP's Slate is a key focal point following its release earlier this week of a video teasing the capabilities of the as-yet-unreleased offering, as well as the leak of a document comparing the Slate's specs with the iPad's.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, is among those observers who point out that there are at least three types of products in this emerging category.
"There are single-purpose tablets," he said, the most prominent of which are the e-readers. Aside from the Kindle, devices focused on this use include the Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble's nook. For the purpose of hardware grouping, though, it would be best to ignore for the moment what might be called cross-device app pollination, such as using the Kindle e-book reader app on the iPad.
The iPad, Greengart noted, is focused on being a...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
$250.60 in iPad Parts Creates a Radical New Design
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72636
The first iPads to come to market cost Apple $250.60 to manufacture, hinting at the computer giant's potential profit margins on what is being called a game-changing tablet device. A teardown report from iSuppli offers insights into the iPad components Apple is using.
More than 40 percent of the iPad's bill of materials is dedicated to the display, touchscreen and other user-interface components. The combined costs of user-interface-related components in the iPad totals about $110, or 43.7 percent of the materials cost of the 16GB, non-3G version of the iPad. That makes the iPad a radical departure in electronic design compared to conventional products.
"While the iPad has the potential to change the game in the computing, wireless and consumer worlds, it already has changed the game of how many electronic products are -- and will be -- designed," said Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst and teardown-services manager for iSuppli.
The iPad's design represents a new paradigm in terms of electronics cost structure and electronic content, Rassweiler continued. Conventional notebook PCs are "motherboard centric," with all other functions in the system -- such as the display, the keyboard, and audio -- peripheral to the central microprocessor and the main printed circuit board (PCB) at the core.
"With the iPad, this is reversed," Rassweiler said. "Everything is human-machine-interface centric, with the PCB and integrated circuits all there to facilitate the display of content as well as user inputs. The display represents a customized implementation of an IPS (in-plane switching) panel, driving up its cost relative to a more commoditized netbook panel."
Not surprisingly, the most expensive iPad component is the display. The 9.7-inch diagonal, 262,000-color TFT-LCD screen with its 1024-by-768-pixel resolution cost $65. That's more than 25 percent of the materials cost. The expense, in part comes from the integrated IPS...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
A Legal Way To Print Money? Change the Font
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72627
Here's a way you might save $20 this year: Change the font in the documents you print.
Because different fonts require different amounts of ink to print, you could be buying new printer cartridges less often if you wrote in, say, Century Gothic rather than Arial. Schools and businesses could save thousands of dollars with font changes.
Data on the subject from Printer.com, a Dutch company that evaluates printer attributes, persuaded the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to make a switch. Diane Blohowiak, coordinator of information-technology user support, has asked faculty and staff to use Century Gothic for all printed documents. The school also plans to change its e-mail system so it uses Century Gothic.
"The feedback we've gotten so far has been positive," she said. "Century Gothic is very readable."
The school of 6,500 students spends about $100,000 per year on ink and toner cartridges. Although students and staff can change the default font to something more ink-intensive, Blohowiak said the university expects to save $5,000 to $10,000 per year with the font switch.
When Printer.com tested popular fonts for their ink-friendly ways, Century Gothic and Times New Roman topped the list. Calibri, Verdana, Arial and Sans Serif were next, followed by Trebuchet, Tahoma and Franklin Gothic Medium. Century Gothic uses about 30 percent less ink than Arial.
The amount of ink a font drains is mainly driven by the thickness of its lines. A font with "narrow" or "light" in its name is usually better than its "bold" or "black" counterpart, said Thom Brown, an ink researcher at Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top maker of printers.
Also, serif fonts -- those with short horizontal lines at the top and bottom of characters -- tend to use thinner lines and thus less ink than a "sans serif" counterpart.
But while using less ink at home can help you...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Does Cable's Clout Have a Grip on High-Speed Internet?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72620
A familiar question has taken on new urgency among media policymakers in Washington, but this time with a twist.
After spending decades debating whether cable companies should be treated as local monopolies that determine what you see on TV and how much you pay for it, lawmakers and regulators are beginning to wonder: Do cable companies now have a similar power to determine who gets high-speed Internet and at what speed and price?
Several industry critics say they do: With 55 percent of the USA's 76 million high-speed Internet customers, in addition to 63 percent of the 98 million pay-TV subscribers, cable companies' "market power is increasing, not decreasing -- and they flex it aggressively," says Consumer Federation of America Research Director Mark Cooper.
The Federal Communications Commission seems to share that concern. On Tuesday, the agency said that it will continue its effort to promote "a free and open Internet" after the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with Comcast in a controversial case that challenged the FCC's authority to regulate high-speed Internet, known as broadband.
The court said that the FCC's power to set rules for cable TV and telephone services doesn't give it the right to also regulate broadband.
If cable's critics are right -- cable companies say they aren't -- then the industry's power in broadband and TV could have far-reaching implications for consumers at a time the federal government says that high-speed Internet is critical to the country's economic development.
Some examples:
*Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others raised high-speed Internet prices by as much as 7.3 percent in some markets in 2010, possibly to cover expected increases in their television programming costs, Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett said earlier this year.
Cable, satellite and telephone company TV providers say they're under pressure because local broadcast stations, suffering from...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
The Masses Love Their iPads, But Techies Not So Sure
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72619
Early reviews are in from the masses who converged on Apple Stores to snap up iPads over the weekend: Most are iGlad.
Buyers from California to North Carolina to Connecticut found the half-inch-thick slab with a 9.7-inch screen irresistible. "It's somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook laptop," says Craig Single, a wedding photographer in Philadelphia.
Steven Macharelli, a technician in Farmington, Conn., bought the 1.5-pound device to replace the MacBook and iPhone he rarely uses. "I figured, why not?"
Consumers are expected to gobble up the gadget, which sold an estimated 300,000 units in its first day on Saturday.
How iPad fares with the tech-savvy could be another matter: Many scoff at iPad's lack of a keyboard, camera and Flash, the Web's most-popular video format. (A $69 keyboard dock, as well as a model with 3G cellular coverage for the Internet, will be available later this month.)
Prices start at $499 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage and Internet access via Wi-Fi. About 3 million to 7.1 million iPads are expected to be sold this year, based on estimates from market research firms. "It appeals to people who can walk around a house and play with it," says Gerry Purdy, an analyst at Mobiletrax.
"When I brought it home, my kids, who are 12 and 5, put down their iPod Touches and used iPad to play games and watch YouTube," says Ojas Rege, vice president of products at MobileIron, a Silicon Valley start-up that writes software for smartphones. "They are my little indicators of the future."
Not everyone, however, considers the iPad a keeper. More than 100 iPads are for sale on Craigslist and eBay -- offered by people suffering from buyer's remorse.
Sophie Siegel, a San Francisco-based publicist, got "swept up in the clapping and cheering in line" and bought one for her boyfriend...
Fri, 9 Apr 10
Your Online History Triggers Targeted Advertising
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72613
Google, Yahoo and other major Internet advertising companies are developing new ways to tailor ads by tracking users' online history -- and can even auction off individual customers to advertisers in the few milliseconds between a person clicking a link and the page appearing on their screen.
But with Internet advertisers increasingly adept at targeting individuals based on the digital bread crumbs they leave as they click through the Web, "behavioral advertising" is also attracting greater scrutiny from government regulators, politicians and interest groups concerned about user privacy.
Internet companies say such targeting pays off for consumers and advertisers, because it is more likely to serve up ads people are actually interested in. Critics counter that most Americans do not want advertising tailored to their interests, particularly when it requires tracking their online movements.
"It's kind of like the Wild West out there with behavioral advertising, where clearly the technology is miles ahead of our ability to regulate all the things that are going on," said Conrad MacKerron of the San Francisco-based As You Sow Foundation, which advocates for corporate responsibility. The foundation will offer a shareholder proposal at Google's annual meeting May 13 asking for stronger privacy rules for personal data collected for behavioral ads.
Google launched what it calls "interest-based advertising" last year, saying it would make advertising more relevant by tracking users and categorizing their interests in topics such as sports, gardening, cars and pets. "Users get more useful ads, and these more relevant ads generate higher returns for advertisers and publishers," Susan Wojcicki, a senior Google executive, wrote on a company blog post.
Sensitive to privacy concerns, Google offers a Web page (google.com/ads/preferences) where users can opt out of the advertising cookie that tracks their movements. The service remains in beta mode, a Google spokesman said last week....
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Verizon Still Anxious for Apple iPhone Contract
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72629
Verizon Wireless will eventually carry Apple's iPhone. That's the word from CEO Ivan Seidenberg, who told news media Tuesday that it's up to Apple.
"Eventually it's our view we'll get to carrying Apple," he said, according to Reuters. He added that he would prefer to have an iPhone that supports Verizon's next-generation LTE (for Long-Term Evolution) 4G network technology. Currently, trials are under way in Boston, Seattle and elsewhere, and the company has said the rollout will cover 25 to 30 markets by the end of this year.
LTE offers peak rates of 40 to 50 Mbps, with averages of five to 12 Mbps down and two to five Mbps up. The competing 4G technology is Sprint Nextel's WiMAX. Sprint has already unveiled a 4G smartphone.
There have been reports recently that Apple was working on new iPhones -- including an updated GSM one for AT&T Wireless, with whom it currently has an exclusive contract for U.S. distribution, and a CDMA model for Verizon that would not work on LTE. Some observers have suggested that Apple didn't see Verizon rolling out its LTE technology fast enough to warrant that kind of device in the near future.
Whether 4G or not, an iPhone on the Verizon network would certainly shake up the position of current handset makers on that carrier, including Samsung, LG, Motorola and RIM. Some analysts suggest that adding the iPhone to Verizon's lineup could double Apple's market share.
The Verizon CEO's comments are raising eyebrows. Ken Dulaney, vice president for mobile computing at industry research firm Gartner, called Seidenberg's comments "very strange." He added that they indicate Verizon "doesn't yet have a contract for iPhone, and that they're begging to have it."
Dulaney said Gartner had predicted a 4G LTE iPhone would be available from Verizon by the summer, but...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Apple iPad Components Cost at Least $259
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72617
Apple's iPad tablet computer costs as little as $259.60 to build, according to analysis by the research firm iSuppli.
Materials for the iPad, which went on sale Apr. 3, include a touchscreen display that costs $95 and a $26.80 processor designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung Electronics, according to El Segundo [Calif.]-based iSuppli.
Apple announced the iPad, which users can hold in their hands for reading and watching videos, on Jan. 27. ISuppli's analysis means that the components of the lowest-priced iPad, which includes 16 GB of memory, constitute 52 percent of its $499 retail price, on par with other Apple products including the iPhone 3GS.
A midpriced 32 GB version of the iPad that sells for $599 contains $289.10 worth of materials. A high-end 64 GB version, which retails for $699, contains components that cost $348.10, according to iSuppli.
Much of the iPad's component costs went toward making the device appealing to use, says iSuppli principal analyst Andrew Rassweiler, who supervised the "teardown" analysis of the product. More than 40 percent of the iPad's costs are devoted to powering its touchscreen display and other components of the computer's user interface -- "what you see with your eyes and what you feel with your fingers," he says. The distinctive aluminum casing on the back of the device contributed about $10.50 to the cost of materials.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison declined to comment on iSuppli's findings.
Research firms conduct so-called teardown analysis of consumer electronics to determine component prices and vendors, and to estimate profit margins. The estimates don't include costs for intangible items such as software development, advertising, patent licensing, or shipping. In February, iSuppli had estimated that the least expensive iPad would carry a $219.35 cost of materials.
Once it took one apart, iSuppli found more...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Apple Addresses Complaints About Weak iPad Wi-Fi
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72610
Amid accolades for Apple's iPad, which launched Saturday, some customers are complaining about the performance of the new device. In particular, a sluggish Wi-Fi connection is one of the key complaints showing up on Apple's discussion board and elsewhere.
"Wi-Fi reception seems weak with slow downloads," wrote a user called Dr. JB on the evening of launch day. Tangerine 23 replied with a report about "the same issues," which were temporarily fixed after shutting down or resetting the network settings -- but then the device gets hung up again.
In general, the Wi-Fi complaints concern weak signals or the inability to join networks from standby.
Apple released a support bulletin Monday, noting that, "under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep." It noted that this can occur with some third-party, dual-band Wi-Fi routers when the same name is used for each network, or when there are different security settings for each network.
Dual-band routers often have 2.4-GHz and five-GHz bands as one network under the same name and password.
If the issue is encountered, Apple said, the user should try to create separate network names to identify each band, such as adding one or more characters to the network name. For example, it suggests, a "g" can be added to the network name of an 802.11b/g network.
The company said another possible fix is making sure that both networks use the same security type, such as WEP or WPA.
Finally, the support team said that, if the issue continues, the user should try to reset network settings and make sure the router firmware is current.
Although the fixes may work on a user's personal or business router, changing network names or other fixes are not an option for public Wi-Fi hot spots.
While many...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Bebo Fails To Meet AOL's Vision and Could Be Closed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72609
AOL may be pulling the plug on its social-networking acquisition. The Internet giant said it may sell or shut down Bebo, which it acquired in 2008 for $850 million in cash.
The social-networking site was supposed to form the centerpiece of AOL's People Network business unit. But less than two years later, AOL is singing a different tune. In a memo distributed to employees Tuesday, AOL referenced "heavy competition" in the social-networking arena as a strong factor in its decision to shut down or sell the site.
"Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social-networking space," AOL Ventures' Jon Brod wrote in the memo. "AOL is not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking."
Ironically, then-AOL President Ron Grant compared Bebo favorably to other social networks at the time of the acquisition. Unlike other social networks, which have a difficult time monetizing their sites without jeopardizing their user experience, he said, Bebo created an environment that let advertisers, brands and media companies engage in meaningful, relevant conversations with users.
But Grant fell by the wayside, and so did Bebo. Although Bebo has an estimated 12.8 million users, it pales in comparison to MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. MySpace has 100 million active users, while Facebook boasts 400 million, according to comScore's February data.
"AOL wants what they paid for Bebo," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "But since Bebo was acquired, Facebook has become so dominant that any buyer would need to totally reinvent the site. AOL overpaid and then wasted its opportunity with Bebo."
The opportunity was real. In 2008, AOL's publishing network hit an all-time high in...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Shortened Links May Harbor Malware
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72599
Link-shortening services such as TinyURL seem ideal for criminals because they can disguise the names of malicious sites. Yet on Twitter -- one of the most popular places for them -- they may not be nearly as malicious as many industry experts fear, according to new security research.
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Zscaler Inc., a company that sells security services, studied 1.3 million shortened links taken from Twitter over two weeks, before Twitter began in early March to examine such links for malicious content. Just 773 of those links -- a mere 0.06 percent -- led to malicious content.
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Link-shortening services convert long Web addresses into shorter ones. They have become more popular as people spend more time on social-networking sites and share with their friends links to photos, news articles and other tidbits. They are especially important on Twitter, which restricts its posts to 140 characters.
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Criminals can use them to trick people into visiting malicious sites because the links carry the names of the shortening services, such as Bit.ly or TinyURL, rather than the actual addresses of the sites.
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Julien Sobrier, senior security researcher with Zscaler, said users seem to be paying more attention to such links because they know they are being taken elsewhere.
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Twitter's shortened URLs (links) aren't trusted by users, he said. You know the link you're seeing is not where you'll actually go.
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And if users are going to be suspicious, criminals have less incentive to use them.
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Sobrier said the study shows that other sites, such as search engines, are more trusted because they're considered more sophisticated at filtering the content they present. So criminals are better off manipulating search results to push their malicious links to the top of the rankings, he said.
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It's hard to get a sense of how many of the links overall on Twitter are harmful, and how many are...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Vietnam Calls Malware Claims 'Groundless'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72592
Vietnam has dismissed what it called groundless accusations from Google and McAfee that the communist country had apparently used malicious computer programs to hack Web sites and spy on political opponents.
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Google Inc. said Vietnam had apparently used software known as malware to snoop on opponents of a controversial bauxite mine planned for Vietnam's Central Highlands. It said the cyberattacks had targeted potentially tens of thousands of people.
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The perpetrators may have political motivations and may have some allegiance to the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, wrote George Kurtz, chief technology officer of online security firm McAfee.
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The comments are groundless, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said of the statements posted on Google and McAfee security blogs last week. Nga's statement appeared on the Foreign Ministry Web site late Monday.
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The bauxite mining project involving a subsidiary of Chinese state-run aluminum company Chinalco has attracted strong opposition from people who fear it would cause major environmental problems and lead to Chinese workers flooding into the strategically sensitive region.
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Bauxite is used to produce alumina, a key ingredient in aluminum.
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Late last year, the government detained several bloggers who criticized the bauxite mine, and in December, a Web site called bauxitevietnam.info, which had drawn millions of visitors opposed to the mine, was hacked.
p
The malware apparently began circulating at about that time, according to the McAfee blog. It said someone hacked into a Web site run by the California-based Vietnamese Professionals Society and replaced a keyboard program that can be downloaded from that site with a malicious program.
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The society's membership is made up mostly of overseas Vietnamese, many of whom fled the country after the communist forces won the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
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The social networking Web site Facebook has been blocked in Vietnam since late last year. While the government has not directly...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
ATT Invests $1 Billion To Broaden Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72591
ATT Inc. said Tuesday it would invest $1 billion to upgrade its business network, services and products for large companies worldwide as well as for small U.S. firms as network traffic in global economies migrates from voice to video and data.
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The investment brings to more than $4 billion the total that ATT has spent to upgrade its systems and services for over 3.5 million businesses since 2006.
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The changes range from increasing U.S. broadband speeds to 24 times the slowest DSL speeds available over phone company copper wires to laying additional undersea cables to boost data flow capacity to Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
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ATT has previously announced plans to boost its mobile broadband capabilities, such as investing more in Wi-Fi and the next generation broadband technology called Long Term Evolution, so executives on the go can have smoother, easier online access. It will increase support for wireless devices, such as netbooks and electronic readers, for businesses.
p
ATT has also indicated plans to delve more deeply into so-called cloud computing services as well, an increasingly popular option in which it would manage software applications and store data for corporate clients off-site.
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The phone company, which is based in Dallas, said it plans to open another Internet data center in London and finish expanding centers in Ashburn, Va., and Piscataway, N.J.
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Its shares slipped 15 cents to $26.16 in morning trading.
Thu, 8 Apr 10
With Surveillance Cameras, Chicago Sees All
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72590
In less than a decade and with little opposition, Chicago has linked thousands of cameras in a network covering most of the city, creating the most extensive and sophisticated video surveillance system in the United States and one that is transforming what it means to be in public.
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The cameras are mounted on street poles and skyscrapers, aboard buses and in train tunnels in this Midwestern city, the third largest in the U.S. after New York and Los Angeles. Officials can watch video live at a sprawling emergency command center, police stations and even some police squad cars.
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I don't think there is another city in the U.S. that has as an extensive and integrated camera network as Chicago has, said Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary.
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New York has plenty of cameras, but about half of the 4,300 installed along the city's subways don't work. Other cities haven't been able to link networks like Chicago. Baltimore, for example, doesn't integrate school cameras with its emergency system and it can't immediately send emergency dispatchers video from the camera nearest to a call like Chicago can.
p
Even London -- widely considered the world's most closely watched city with an estimated 500,000 cameras -- doesn't incorporate private cameras in its system as Chicago does.
p
While critics decry the network as the biggest of Big Brother invasions of privacy, most Chicago residents accept them as a fact of life in a city that has always had a powerful local government and police force.
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And authorities say the system helps them respond to emergencies in a way never before possible. A dispatcher can tell those racing to the scene how big a fire is or what a gunman looks like. If a package is left sitting next to a building for more than a few minutes, a camera can...
Thu, 8 Apr 10
Business Software Firm CA To Cut 1,000 Jobs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72589
Business software company CA Inc. said Tuesday that it is cutting 1,000 jobs -- or about 8 percent of its work force -- and consolidating offices as part of a restructuring plan to reduce costs and become more efficient.
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The company also steered earnings expectations to the lower end of its previous guidance for the year.
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I recognize that the actions we're taking are difficult. But in the end, they will make CA stronger and more competitive, CEO Bill McCracken said in a memo to employees Tuesday.
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The job cuts will occur mainly in North America and mostly be completed by the end of September, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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The Islandia, New York, company has already shed 3,100 positions over the last three years amid office closings.
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The reductions are part of CA's efforts to mold the company to better fit its new business strategy of focusing on emerging technologies and high-growth markets. A key area of interest is cloud computing, where it would handle software and data storage for corporate clients off-site.
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We are taking the necessary steps to further align our organizations and skills with CA's strategy, McCracken said. The industry and the market are changing, and we have to change, too.
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CA will be consolidating an unspecified number of offices, which could include closings, reductions in office space and merging of locations.
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The company expects to incur a $50 million pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter, of which $47 million would be for severance payments and the rest related to facility consolidations.
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CA also said full-year earnings will come in at the lower end of the range it had previously given. It expected to earn $1.60 per share to $1.71 per share for the year, excluding one-time items. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting $1.69 per share, on average.
Thu, 8 Apr 10
More Women Embracing Web Communities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72587
In a sharp reversal, more young women are now embracing online communities than their male counterparts, a new study says.
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By contrast, men are showing some signs of networking fatigue, with fewer men saying that their online communities are as important as their offline equivalents.
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The shift in attitudes between the two sexes has taken place over just a couple of years.
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Researchers at the University of Southern California are reporting this week that 67 percent of women under 40 said they feel as strongly about their Internet communities as their offline ones, while only 38 percent of men said the same.
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In 2007, the numbers were just the reverse, with 69 percent of the men and 35 percent of the women feeling that way.
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Internet communities don't just mean social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, but include online gathering sites focused on hobbies, politics or spirituality.
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Michael Gilbert, senior fellow at USC's Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, said women tend to adopt new technologies more slowly than men, but once they do, they catch up and often surpass men in their enthusiasm.
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Men made up the bulk of the shoppers who lined up Saturday to get their hands on Apple's new iPad in many cities including Seattle and New York, but that doesn't mean that gender disparity is permanent.
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Gilbert said women are finding deeper connections to Web communities because many of them go there for social reasons rather than to find information about hobbies, for example. Men, especially those from 25 to 39, are disengaging from social networks.
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The infatuation is over, he said.
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In 2005, 77 percent of men under 40 said their online community was extremely important. That number has now dropped to 39 percent.
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The latest findings are part of the Annenberg Center's decade-long study of 2,000 families and their digital habits. It has...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Microsoft Ready To Roll Out Pink Social Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72608
Move over, Google. Microsoft is planning to launch a new line of mobile phones next week, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The software giant will reportedly roll out mobile devices with social-networking capabilities that target young consumers. The Journal cited "people familiar with the matter" who said the devices are part of Microsoft's strategy to invigorate its struggling mobile-phone strategy.
The Microsoft devices, part of a development project code-named Pink, will come to market first in the U.S., according to the Journal. Microsoft has reportedly partnered with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. Pure and Turtle are said to be names for two of the phones.
"With Windows 7, Microsoft has come a long way. The partnership strategies will help," said Phil Marshall, a wireless analyst at the Yankee Group. "The question is whether Microsoft has the DNA to execute on the strategy."
As Marshall sees it, Microsoft has displayed a tendency to remain closely tied and arrogant about traditional Windows environments. He said Microsoft hasn't evolved sufficiently as a company to play in the mobile hardware market, particularly in integrating with social networks.
"Microsoft is doing this as a defensive, rather than offensive, move, which I believe will make it harder for the company to execute on," Marshall said. "The smartphone market is really crowded right now. But if you are going to be in the future of the Internet, you need to be on the mobile Internet. So it's no surprise that Microsoft is pushing in this direction."
Microsoft is attempting to do what Apple and Google have already done: Launch into a market where it has little experience. Apple's iPhone has been a sterling success. But while Google's Android operating system is picking up momentum in the smartphone market, the Google Nexus One has not seen the...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Court Says FCC Didn't Have Right To Regulate Comcast
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72606
Nearly two years after the Federal Communications Commission said Comcast was monitoring and blocking Internet subscribers' use of peer-to-peer file sharing and ordered the cable company to provide an outline of its data-monitoring practices, a court has ruled the FCC didn't have the legal right to do so.
In January, a panel of three judges questioned the FCC on its policy and asked the agency to find specific statues that Comcast violated, but the FCC came up short. On Tuesday, a panel of three U.S. Court of Appeals judges granted Comcast's petition for review.
The unanimous decision, written by Judge David Tatel, Chief Judge David Sentelle, and Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph, found that the FCC didn't have the legal authority to regulate Comcast's network-monitoring practices and threw out the case.
"We are gratified by the court's decision today to vacate the previous FCC order," said Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast's vice president of corporate government affairs. "Our primary goal was always to clear our name and reputation."
While several organizations and rival businesses provided their thoughts about Comcast's network blocking and monitoring tactics, saying the practices posed real risks to Internet innovation, they didn't believe the FCC had the legal authority to regulate Comcast.
"Today's unanimous and very thorough opinion in the Comcast case makes clear that the FCC needs to focus on the important task of making the promise of the National Broadband Plan a reality by spurring investment, innovation and job growth, and turn away from calls to impose restrictive regulations on broadband providers and the Internet ecosystem," said Steve Largent, president of CTIA –- The Wireless Association. This decision from the Court of Appeals suggests that it is time to turn away from murky regulatory debates and focus on connecting all Americans and leading the world...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Lawsuit Gets Yelp To Open Reviews, Curb Advertisers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72601
Yelp, which helps visitors find local businesses through user reviews, is taking steps to address criticisms by small businesses -- and to respond to a lawsuit that alleges extortion. The site said Monday that it will allow users to see reviews the site has filtered out, and advertisers can no longer post their favorite review at the top of a page.
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These changes, wrote cofounder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman Monday on his company's blog, reinforce the trust that led 31 million consumers to visit the site last month to find a great local business. The changes, he said, make it even more clear that Yelp treats review content equally for all businesses, with no connection between advertising and reviews.
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subhead
'An Extortion Scheme'
/subhead
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A key incentive behind the changes is a class-action suit filed in February in a California federal court, alleging that Yelp, according to the plaintiff, runs an extortion scheme in which the company's employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of 'advertising contracts,' in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the site.
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The plaintiff, a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, Calif., said it asked Yelp to remove a false and defamatory review, but the site refused. Instead, the hospital said, the company's sales people kept demanding $300 a month in exchange for hiding or removing the negative review. The hospital also said similar practices by the site relating to other businesses have been documented in news stories.
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Yelp said the complaints were false.
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The company said its filter uses a secret algorithm to move users' reviews from their own user pages onto business pages, in order to filter out fake reviews. Yelp said it continually tunes the filter to establish which of the registered users, who are the only ones allowed to post reviews, are the most trusted and...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
More Google Buzz Changes Try To Fix Privacy Fiasco
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72584
Google is working to repair the tarnished image of Buzz, its Gmail-connected social-networking play. Google launched Google Buzz on Feb. 9, activating it for all Gmail users.
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When users began viewing the service, they were automatically listed as following posts from their most common e-mail contacts. Participation in the service also created a public profile that included contacts. Google has changed the service twice since launch, but the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said the privacy violations still stand. Now Google is making additional changes.
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Google bungled the privacy issue with Buzz at launch and misjudged the reaction. They've had to backtrack and fix it, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. This is part of an ongoing effort to do so, although there are several indications that the product isn't being very widely used. It thus may turn out to be too late.
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subhead
Third Time the Charm?
/subhead
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Google had to make a move. In February, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the commission to require Google to make Google Buzz fully opt-in, stop using Gmail users' private address-book contacts to compile social-networking lists, and give Google users meaningful control over their personal data.
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Shortly after launching Google Buzz, we quickly realized we didn't get everything right and moved as fast as possible to improve the Buzz experience, said Todd Jackson, a Gmail product manager. We made a number of changes to the getting-started experience based on your feedback, the most significant of which was replacing auto-following with suggestions for people to follow.
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Rather than automatically setting users to follow the people they e-mail and chat with the most -- Google's aim was to prevent people from having to build a social network from scratch -- Google Buzz now suggests potential follow candidates. This way, Jackson said, Buzz is...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
HP's Slate Prepares To Challenge Apple's iPad
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72583
In the wake of Apple's iPad launch on Saturday, new details are emerging about what could be the first major competitor -- Hewlett-Packard's Slate. On Monday, the computer giant released a video featuring the upcoming product, and more specs are emerging.
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The device was first seen in prototype form during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. It will sell for about $550 for the 32GB/Wi-Fi model, and $599 for the 64GB. This compares to the iPad's $499 price for the 16GB/Wi-Fi, $599 for the 32GB, and $699 for the 64GB. Both devices have optional 3G, which costs about $130 more on the iPad. There is no word yet on pricing for the Slate 3G models.
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subhead
Two Cameras, Multi-Tasking, Flash
/subhead
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By comparison with the iPad, the Slate's screen will be somewhat smaller with lower resolution -- an 8.9-inch display versus the iPad's 9.7 inches, and 1024x600 compared to 1024x768. However, the Slate can run high-definition videos at a full 1080p, while the iPad's top display is 720p.
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The Slate has two cameras to iPad's none -- one in the front for such uses as video phone calls, and a higher-res, three-megapixel camera on the back. On the downside for HP, the battery life at five hours is half that of the iPad. Like the iPad, the Slate's battery cannot be replaced by the user.
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There's also a SD card reader that holds up to 128GB, a USB 2.0 port (versus none on the iPad), and audio and HDMI out. The Slate runs on a 1.6-GHz Atom microprocessor, compared to the iPad's one-GHz A4.
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HP is not being secretive about the multitasking abilities on its Slate, or its use of Adobe's Flash, both of which are missing from the iPad.
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subhead
HP Can 'Leverage Its Strength'
/subhead
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Perhaps the biggest unknown, aside from the actual...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
iPhone OS 4.0 Could Make iPad a Business Thin Client
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72576
The tech world is still buzzing about Apple's iPad. As user complaints about Wi-Fi issues and news of jailbreaks are released, business users are exploring the potential of the new tablet device that sold 300,000 units at launch.
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iSuppli predicts early adopters and others attracted to the iPad's unique touchscreen-based user interface will drive iPad sales in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the firm said, iPad sales will be driven up by a range of factors, including a flood of new applications, improved functionality, and declining prices.
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But what about business adoption? Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, a division of Gartner, said the iPad is missing some important enterprise functions.
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The iPad is the world's first literal 100 percent thin client. Look at the size of that device and you can imagine what an enterprise user could do with it. The downside is that it doesn't multitask, Disabato said. With that much screen real estate, I need to be able to have an IM open, a VPN open, an e-mail open, and work on a document while I am on a phone call. But where is the camera? Where is the webcam so I can do my Skype video call?
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subhead
The Future of iPhone OS
/subhead
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Apple is offering details on iPhone OS 4.0 on Thursday. The new version of Apple's mobile operating system is expected to include multitasking. The iPad runs on the same operating system as the iPhone. That would allow users to run multiple applications simultaneously on the iPhone, and the iPad when the OS is updated.
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Even if Apple doesn't offer a camera, if the iPad gets to the multitasking functions with the new OS update and Apple makes the iPad enterprise-class ready where you can encrypt the content, you actually have enough screen real estate there to...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Do Deep-Discount Web Sites Have Staying Power?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72570
There's still no such thing as a free lunch, but new online discount coupons are slicing restaurant prices to the bone.
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While recession-weary consumers may be happy to buy a $50 dinner for $25 at Web sites like Groupon.com, a participating restaurant makes only $12.50 -- an unprofitable deal for the restaurant.
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Groupon.com, one of several deep-discount Web sites, claims it can help restaurants, health spa operators and other retailers reach new consumers who can be turned into repeat customers.
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You may barely break even on Groupon customers the first time, said David Rangel, Groupon's director of merchant services. But if you bring them back once or twice, you'll get a terrific return.
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One restaurant owner called Groupon's program borderline predatory because it's aimed at restaurants hurting from the recession. They know the restaurant industry is on the ropes, and they are offering people a quick fix. ... They are preying on people's fears, said Lenny Russo, chef and co-owner of Heartland Restaurant in St. Paul, Minn., who refused to participate in the coupon program.
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The coupon deals jeopardize the restaurant industry, bringing short-term revenue, though not enough to cover the cost of buying, preparing and serving the food, he said. Others say it takes time to tell whether Groupon will hurt restaurants or boost traffic as promised.
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Restaurants can control their costs by restricting the number of coupons -- known as Groupons -- that can be sold. Chicago-based Groupon Inc. does business in 40 metro markets. Its competitors include Restaurant.com, LivingSocial, DealStork and CrowdCut.
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Groupon approaches restaurants with this pitch: Offer highly discounted meals through Groupon.com packaged as exclusive daily deals. Consumers get a short time to purchase online and must pay in advance. The deal goes through only if a specified number of consumers -- say, 50 -- opt to buy. Hence...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
USB 3.0: Coming Soon To a PC Near You
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72568
USB 3.0 might not be the sole reason that you run out and buy your next PC. But it will be a nice incentive. The successor to USB 2.0 -- currently the world's most popular peripheral connectivity standard -- USB 3.0 is faster and more versatile than USB 2.0. And it's beginning to show up now. Here's what's in store.
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subhead
Speed
/subhead
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Marketed as SuperSpeed USB, the new USB 3.0 standard is not just fast. It's very fast. Able to pump data at 5 Gigabits per second (Gb/s), it outperforms the Serial ATA interface that's used to connect most hard drives to computer systems today. That means it's more than capable of allowing you to get the maximum data transfer rate from today's hard drives -- even from today's solid state hard drives.
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USB 2.0, by comparison, moves data at a comparatively slow 480 Megabits per second (Mb/s). That makes USB 3.0 about 10 times faster than USB 2.0, at least on paper. In practice, early adopters of USB 3.0 gear reports data transfer rates that are closer to 3 times faster than USB 2.0. Still, that's a hefty increase -- and enough to make those who regularly transfer large amounts of data think seriously about upgrading.
p
Perhaps even more exciting than the sheer performance improvements of USB 3.0 over USB 2.0 and other connectivity standards is that fact that USB 3.0 can operate in what's known as full duplex, or bi-directional, mode: it can receive instructions or data at the same time that it sends them. USB 2.0 cannot. That capability will further enhance USB 3.0's usefulness, especially with devices that both send and receive a lot of data, such as audio interfaces.
p
subhead
Compatibility
/subhead
p
The USB 3.0 standard is fully backward compatible, so your existing USB devices will work when plugged into USB 3.0 ports. Similarly,...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Less Is More: Dealing With Information Overload
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72567
Receiving an e-mail message can be a pleasant and energizing thing. But 30 e-mail messages waiting for you first thing in the morning or a laptop that chimes with an incoming message every minute or so can be both distracting and disorienting. That translates into stress.
p
Yet the information flood is not just an e-mail issue. It's precipitated by the waves of information we receive from the web in general. Fortunately, there are ways to handle it.
p
Start by remembering that not every newsletter has to be read and not every e-mail message must be answered immediately, says Michael Ziegelmayer from the German Association of Psychologists (BDP) in Berlin. A practical approach is to create folders to sort incoming mail based on urgency. This makes them easier to review afterwards.
p
Trying to stay on top of every aspect of breaking news can also be a major drain. Given the incredible volume of information out there, it's not a particularly reasonable goal either, Ziegelmayer says. Moderation is a better option. Concentrated attention tends to be more restricted: only a fifth of the content on the monitor actually reaches our consciousness.
p
Professor Sabine Trepte emphasizes as well that there's no way to read all potentially interesting items in a concentrated way. Skimming a portion of it is usually sufficient. That is part of the filtering process, the media psychologist from the Hamburg Media School notes. That means selecting a specific spectrum of the information, not unlike watching television, Trepte notes.
p
The key is knowing what your goal is, Trepte says. If you're interested primarily in political backstories, then monitoring two or three selected portals is generally good. Those who want to keep informed about the latest events around the world can probably even focus on one source.
p
What about those accustomed to using RSS feed readers or services...
Wed, 7 Apr 10
Why Toyota Should Go Open Source
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72535
Moore's Law, that the number of transistors on a single chip will double every two years, is one of the most influential technology axioms of the past 40 years. The explosion of computing power and its corresponding precipitous drop in cost have fundamentally changed our society and economy. Everything from coffee makers to refrigerators to automobiles is better, cheaper, and more feature-rich due to the electronics that control them.
p
What Moore's Law doesn't address is the software needed to control all those electronics. A reasonable corollary to Moore's Law is that the number of lines of computer source code in a typical product will double every two years.
p
This is daunting for those who know software's dirty little secret: Software quality has improved little over the past 30 years. In other words, the number of defects (bugs) per thousand lines of software code has changed little over time. In his book Code Complete, coding and software development expert Steve McConnell states that there are anywhere from 20 to 30 defects per thousand lines of software code, a number that has remained pretty much the same over the past 15 years. Unless we improve the fundamental quality of software development, the number of electronics-related defects in a typical product could double every two years.
p
Toyota's recent response to claims of unintended acceleration in its vehicles illustrates the potential pitfalls of today's technologically complex automobiles. Until its recent troubles, Toyota was the poster child for quality, having pioneered the use of kaizen principles of continuous improvement. Toyota embraced the teachings of quality guru Dr. W. Edwards Deming and instilled a collaborative culture of see something, say something, and do something. It was one of the first companies to understand that quality did not stop at its corporate boundaries: Designs are shared across the supply...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Apple's iPad Jailbroken One Day After Launch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72575
It took only one day after Apple made its iPad available for purchase for someone to jailbreak it. A hacker who lives in California and goes by the name of MuscleNerd posted a video on YouTube of him jailbreaking the iPad.
Apple engineers may have rushed so much to get the highly anticipated device out the door and into the hands of consumers that they left behind a few unpatched security holes. In 15 hours on Saturday Apple sold 300,000 iPads, according to reports. But in less than 24 hours MuscleNerd took full advantage of those security holes to jailbreak the device.
Jailbreaking allows iPad users to run any code on the device, versus only being able to use code authorized by Apple. In the past, hackers have been able to jailbreak other Apple devices, including the iPhone and iPod touch.
Those with a jailbroken iPhone have been able to download many applications not available through Apple's App Store using unofficial installers such as Cydia. The iPad runs on the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod touch, so with a jailbroken iPad, users will also have access to features without Apple-approved code.
Requests to Apple for comment were not returned by deadline.
The jailbreaking of the iPad is no surprise, observers say. A jailbreak involves a persistent modification to the firmware on the device, according to Aaron Portnoy, security research team lead at TippingPoint and organizer of PWN2OWN, a hacking contest held each year at the CanSecWest security conference.
"The iPhone and the iPad share the same code base for Safari," Portnoy said. "Thus, vulnerabilities affecting the iPhone (like the PWN2OWN bugs) can likely be used to gain code execution inside the sandbox on the iPad."
What is surprising, however, is that Apple left behind some security holes in Safari last...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
T-Mobile Offers iPhone Trade-In for Nearly Obsolete HD2
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72574
Once you wade through all the iPad launch hype, you'll find T-Mobile trying to stir up some buzz of its own with an interesting trade-in offer that it hopes will turn some cost-conscious heads.
T-Mobile is seeking attention for its HTC HD2 device by offering consumers up to a $350 discount -- if they have an iPhone to trade in on the deal. News sites are publishing copies of internal T-Mobile communications that mention the upcoming deal that is akin to a car salesman's pitch to trade up.
"If this thing was an Android, I would think that was something I'd want to look at," said Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, a division of Gartner. "If you are a dot-net shop, you will love it. If you are not a dot-net shop, there's no compelling business reason to go get it. And oh, by the way, the iPad is out."
A leaked internal T-Mobile memo reads, "Great news for Apple iPhone customers who want to purchase an HTC HD2 -- from April 1 through May 19, customers can trade in their Apple iPhone and get up to a $350 credit when purchasing an HTC HD2 at participating T-Mobile dealers, through 1-800-TMOBILE, or through a business direct sales representative."
There are plenty of requirements, however. First, the iPhone has to be working. Customers who trade in a working iPhone to purchase the HTC HD2 are eligible for a $100 minimum credit. By working, T-Mobile means the iPhone has to be functional and in working condition. The screen can't be damaged, broken or leaking. And there can be no liquid damage or corrosion.
Consumers don't have to activate the HD2, and consumers can purchase an HD2 at full price without activating it. Consumers don't have to purchase a data plan to...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Blu-ray Disc Association Unveils High-Capacity Formats
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72573
Blu-ray discs may become more than just the prerecorded vehicle for high-definition movies. On Saturday, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced new media formats to enable write-once options on 100GB and 128GB Blu-ray discs, and rewritable capability on 100GB discs.
The two formats are called BDXL, for high-capacity recordable and rewritable discs; and IH-BD, for Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray discs. Details about the specs are expected to be released within the next few months.
BDXL, which utilizes three to four recordable layers to achieve storage up to 128GB, is intended primarily for use in industries that have heavy archive storage requirements, such as broadcasting, medical imaging and document imaging. A consumer version of BDXL is also expected to be released.
BDA official Victor Matsuda said that "professional industries" want to "transition away from magnetic media for their archiving needs." He added that using Blu-ray to meet this need leverages "a proven and widely accepted optical technology."
The IH-BD format uses a single BD-ROM layer and a single BD-RE layer, which allows some portion of the disc to be viewed but not overwritten, while data can be written elsewhere on the same disc.
Both layers in the IH-BD format offer 25GB of capacity, and the BDA said it envisioned the format being used in consumer applications where published content and user-generated data are both wanted. This could lead toward new kinds of special features for games and movies, with data added by the user.
The new formats will require newly designed hardware, although it is expected that the new players will be downwardly compatible with existing Blu-ray discs. BDA did not release information about the timetable for release of the new hardware. These formats, along with 3D-capable players, point to the emerging next generation of Blu-ray hardware.
Currently, a single-layer...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
300,000 iPads Sold in First Day -- But Is That Enough?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72572
It's official. With the consumer electronics manufacturing world watching with baited breath, Apple confirmed its marketing savvy with the smash-hit launch of its iPad tablet. Or did it?
Apple confirmed it sold 300,000 iPads in the U.S. as of midnight on Saturday, April 3. Apple included pre-orders, deliveries to channel partners, and sales at Apple retail stores. Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded more than one million apps from Apple's App Store and more than 250,000 e-books from its iBookstore during the first day.
"It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world -- it's going to be a game changer," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad."
Although the first-day sales figure was lower than some analysts predicted -- Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster upped his first-day sales estimates to between 600,000 and 700,000 -- the lines were seemingly long enough in front of Apple stores across the country as consumers waited to get their hands on one of the devices.
"I think some people are trying to figure out what it's going to be," said Mike Disabato, a senior analyst with the Burton Group, a division of Gartner. "There has been so much hype for and against the iPad. There were a heck of a lot of people in the Apple Stores when I drove by, and if that many people were sustained all day, they should have sold a lot more."
Still, many analysts are bullish on long-term sales for the device. Muster raised his 2010 prediction from 2.8 million iPads to 5.5 million. Forrester Research is predicting first-year sales of three million. And iSuppli is betting the iPad's design, applications and multi-touch capability will drive a...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Marvel's App for iPad Could Revive Comic Books
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72571
Superheroes and supervillains are beaming down to the iPad planet. On Saturday, Marvel Comics announced an application for Apple's newest device and the launch of digital versions of more than 500 titles featuring Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and others.
The Disney-owned company said each comic is presented "at incredibly high resolution," as well as with a search engine and a variety of viewing options.
Marvel Publishing CEO and Publisher Dan Buckely said the iPad "is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic." The company said the comics have been optimized for the iPad by a "painstaking recoloring" of the digital versions.
Some of the initial batch of titles from Marvel are classics, like the debut of Red Hulk, Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four series, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men, and others. Titles will be released weekly, priced at $1.99 each.
Marvel worked with ComiXology on the new app, which is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch. The Marvel app includes a free preview of up to two pages from every issue before purchase, a comic-shop locater, and the ability to move from page to page with a finger swipe.
To celebrate what it described as "a historic event," Marvel will offer for a limited time several free titles, including New Avengers #1, Captain America #1, Invincible Iron Man #1, Thor #1, and Super Hero Squad #1.
The app is also being used by several small comic-book publishers, such as Sterling Comics and Top Cow.
Marvel's big rival, Time Warner's DC Comics, said it's currently assessing the iPad, but hasn't yet announced an effort targeted at the device.
A key question for Marvel and other publishers is...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Episodic Deal May Monetize YouTube in Booming Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72553
In its fifth acquisition of 2010, Google has acquired a fledgling video service that could offer some backup to its YouTube property. The Internet giant snapped up Episodic for an undisclosed amount.
Google hasn't officially announced the deal, but the San Francisco-based startup was so "thrilled" to join the Google family that its cofounders shared the news in a blog post on Friday. The post hints at Google's motives for buying what Episodic describes as its "comprehensive platform for broadcasting live and on-demand video to the web or any web-enabled device."
"The Episodic team will join Google and continue its work to bring a great video experience to the web, mobile phones, and IPTV devices," wrote Noam Lovinsky and Matias Cudich. The cofounders promised no service interruptions for customers.
A direct competitor with Brightcove, content creators, marketers and enterprise customers use Episodic to deliver video to the web and mobile devices. Episodic lets publishers and marketers host, stream, measure and monetize video content.
Monetization may be the keyword for Google in this deal. With Apple's iPad exploding onto the scene, many analysts believe online video consumption will continue its fast-paced growth in 2010.
"Video is a critical growth area online, in mobile and now on tablets," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "This purchase offers more tools and monetization possibilities to Google for IP-based video across all screens. It also gives YouTube some new potential monetization scenarios to contemplate."
The online video market swelled to nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watching 33.2 billion videos in December alone, according to comScore. That translates to 86.5 percent of total U.S. Internet users watching online videos that month. Users watch an average of 187 videos, or about six videos a day. The average length of those videos is 4.1 minutes.
YouTube is the leading...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Microsoft Request for Patent Ruling Review Is Nixed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72544
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected Microsoft Corp.'s request to review a $290 million patent ruling involving the software maker's popular word processing program.
Microsoft had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for a review by its full roster of judges. In December, a three-judge panel from that court had upheld a lower court ruling that Microsoft infringed on patents held by i4i Inc., a Canadian software company.
Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool used in Microsoft Word. The technology in question gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, which is computer code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document's contents.
A federal jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent, and the judge overseeing that case ordered Microsoft in August to pay i4i $290 million and stop selling versions of Word containing the infringing technology.
In December, the appeals court panel upheld the damage award and the injunction, which took effect in January. Microsoft then began selling versions of Word that did not contain the technology in question.
In a statement Thursday, i4i said it's delighted with the outcome. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said it is disappointed and is considering its options for going forward. That could include an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, though the high court accepts relatively few cases for review.
Tue, 6 Apr 10
MySpace Removes Page of Child Sex Predator
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72541
The social networking site MySpace said Thursday that it removed the profile of a registered sex offender who is charged with murdering a 17-year-old girl.
The company said it worked with the FBI and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to confirm the profile belonged to John Albert Gardner III, who used a false name, birthday and hometown to register for the account. It removed the profile Wednesday night.
A copy of the profile obtained by The Associated Press uses the names Jason Stud and Energizer Bunny. It uses sexually explicit language to describe his interests, names Playboy Mansion as his hometown and lists "CSI" and "Bones" among his favorite television shows.
Gardner, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Chelsea King, whose body was found five days after she vanished Feb. 25 on a run in a San Diego park. He is a suspect, but has not been charged, in the death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whose remains were found March 6 in a remote area north of San Diego, more than a year after she disappeared walking to school.
MySpace said the account was set up on Dec. 22, 2007, more than nine months before Gardner ended parole on a conviction in 2000 for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor. The account would violate terms of his parole, which prohibited him from using a computer to connect to the Internet or communicate with others.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not independently confirmed that the MySpace profile was created or used by Gardner, or that he used the site while on parole, said spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. He said the California Sex Offender Management Board, a panel made up law enforcement, victims and treatment experts, would investigate.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the board to investigate how the corrections department handled the case.
My Space said...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Cyberattack on Web Site of China-Based Journalist Club
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72539
An organization for foreign journalists based in China has become the latest victim of cyberattacks targeting the Web sites or e-mail accounts of human rights groups and reporters focused on China.
Cyberattacks linked to China have gained more attention since Google Inc. accused Chinese hackers in January of trying to plunder its software coding and of hijacking the Gmail accounts of human rights activists protesting Beijing's policies.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said in an e-mailed statement Friday that its Web site was taken down because of denial-of-service attacks apparently launched over the last two days by computers within China and in the United States.
"We do not know who is behind these attacks or what their motivation is," the statement said.
Denial-of-service attacks involve a flood of computers all trying to connect to a single site at the same time, overwhelming the server that handles the traffic.
Yahoo e-mail accounts belonging to foreign journalists in China have also apparently been hacked in recent weeks, and the Web site of the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Defenders remained shut down Friday after a denial-of-service attack hit it last week.
Google says the attacks it suffered convinced it to move its China search service offshore to the freer Chinese territory of Hong Kong last week. Google also said it was unwilling to continue self-censoring its search results in line with Chinese regulations.
Service interruptions hit Google's new offshore Chinese search service for several hours Tuesday, rendering it unusable for Web users in China. Google blamed the problem on China's elaborate Web filtering system, nicknamed the Great Firewall. Service returned to normal after a few hours.
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Netbook Sales Sag as the iPad Arrives
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72537
Apple's iPad is helping cool the computer industry's netbook fever. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has made no secret of his disdain for the popular, inexpensive mini-notebooks. "Netbooks aren't better than anything. They're just cheap laptops," Jobs said at the Jan. 27 launch of the iPad tablet computer in San Francisco.
PC makers are starting to worry that consumers agree. The sales growth of netbooks, priced from $200 to $500 and resembling shrunk-down laptops, slowed markedly in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC.
Netbook shipments to retailers from January through March are expected to grow 33.6 percent compared with a year ago, to 4.8 million units, IDC says. That's significantly slower growth than in the first quarter of 2009, when netbook sales leapt 872 percent, to 3.6 million units. "Everyone tried to make these mini-notebooks out to be a different category, or different type of device," says IDC analyst Richard Shim. "In fact, people think of them as just another type of PC."
Falling sales aren't the only problem dogging netbooks. There's evidence that demand for netbook components is declining. The Web site DigiTimes reported on Mar. 30 that makers of the liquid-crystal-display panels used in netbooks are cutting production because of declining orders. PC makers including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer declined to comment on whether inventories of unsold netbooks are on the rise.
Susie Ramirez, a spokeswoman for Intel, which makes the Atom chip used in most netbooks, declined to say whether PC makers are ordering fewer of the chips. "Things change quarter to quarter, but in the end we're looking at hundreds of millions of netbooks that will be sold over time," she says.
Some PC makers are starting to look past the category and divine what will next capture consumers' attention in the portable...
Tue, 6 Apr 10
Open Innovation's Challenge: Letting Go Is Hard To Do
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72534
Open-source software provides an important example of how companies can leverage external sources of innovation. In practice, however, big high-tech companies often have a difficult time collaborating and sharing control.
While most people have heard of Linux, an open-source community founded by individual programmers, increasingly companies are sponsoring their own communities and supplying development resources, infrastructure, and initial technology in the hope of attracting individuals and other businesses to help them create products and services for potential users. Sponsors also set rules for developing and using cooperatively developed software, to align the community to corporate objectives and avoid time-consuming negotiations inherent in shared governance.
But the tighter their control, the harder it is to attract outside participation. Sharing seems particularly challenging for large companies that are used to having their own way and running their own ecosystems. In the past five years, three big companies have created new open-source projects and communities to adapt Linux for use in mobile communication devices. None would be mistaken for a grassroots democracy.
The first was Nokia, which in 2005 announced its Maemo project and released the first of its series of "Internet tablets" (the Nokia 770, followed by the N800, N810, and N900), which boast larger screens and form factors than Symbian-based smartphones. In 2007, Intel announced it had cloned the Maemo code to create Moblin, a version of Linux that would run on its Atom processors rather the ARM-based CPUs used in Nokia and other mobile phones.
And most famously, Google announced its Android operating system, also in 2007. The first phone shipped a year later, and since then more than two dozen phones have been developed. Led by Motorola's Droid, Android captured nearly 10 percent of the U.S. smartphone market last year.
In all cases, computer codes are shared, but production decisions...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Verizon Deals Aimed at Reducing Palm Inventory
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72547
Verizon Wireless is aggressively pushing Palm's webOS smartphones, with sharply reduced prices and other special offers. The largest U.S. carrier announced Thursday that the price for the Palm Pre Plus has been reduced from $149.99 to $49.99, and the Pixi Plus from $99.99 to $29.99. Both deals include a two-year service contract.
But, wait -- that's not all. Buy one smartphone and you get a second for free, and service for the Mobile Hotspot application is thrown in as well. The app allows the Palm to use its 3G connection as a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot for up to five other devices simultaneously.
The application has been free, but Verizon had charged $40 monthly for up to five gigabytes of data. Now the service is free for new Palm customers, as well as for existing ones.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, pointed out that Palm shipped "a tremendous amount of inventory" in the most recent quarter, about 960,000 units, but only 408,000 sold. This, he said, is why Verizon is moving aggressively to lessen this "inventory overhang."
The low prices, he said, as well as the BOGO -- buy one, get one free -- offer will help Palm by spurring sales and attracting publicity. But, Greengart noted, this will not necessarily drive Palm's perceived value downward.
"BlackBerrys have been sold significantly under $100," he pointed out, "and you can get an iPhone for $99," yet neither Research In Motion nor Apple has seen the value of those products diminished.
In fact, said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at the Altimeter Group, these new offers are "a way for Palm to distinguish itself as a premium, value-priced product." The new prices, he said, and the free service for the Mobile Hotspot are good differentiators, and "not a...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
AT&T Appears To Be Preparing for iPhone Competition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72533
With Apple and AT&T experiencing so many growing pains, their relationship is getting more scrutiny these days than those of jilted Oscar-winning actresses or philandering golf pros. And with Apple's iPad launching Saturday, some analysts wonder if the 3G-capable version of the device will further strain a struggling network on which the carrier has spent billions to increase capacity.
Finally, with a new version of the iPhone likely just months away, AT&T will soon learn the fate of its exclusive U.S. contract with Apple.
Apple's faith in AT&T seemed reinforced in January when it named the carrier as its exclusive partner for 3G iPad coverage. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently downplayed that connection, however, by saying at a tech conference that the iPad is likely to be mostly a Wi-Fi-driven device that won't take much of a toll on AT&T's 3G network.
"I think both parties will make sure the network is optimized for the device before launch," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at the consulting firm Altimeter Group. "Given that it's not a monthly contract device, that will also help alleviate the load. Apple and AT&T have been very close since [the iPad] launch. In fact, Apple has gone a long way defending AT&T as a partner, and it would appear that the relationship is quite solid from both sides."
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported unnamed sources briefed by Verizon Wireless as saying Apple is working on a CDMA-compatible iPhone, which could realize a dream for many to have Apple's hardware running on top-carrier Verizon's network. A recent poll has shown that iPhone users would switch. CDMA is also used by Sprint Nextel.
According to various reports, a 4G iPhone will debut as soon as June, still made by Hon Hai Precision Industry, with the CDMA version...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
No-Glasses 3-D Coming To Mobile Touchscreens
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72532
If wearing glasses to watch 3-D is less than enticing, Sharp may have an alternative. The electronics company announced Friday that it has developed a high-quality, no-glasses 3-D touchscreen LCD.
The company said the new screen, currently up to 3.4 inches, is "ideal" for such mobile devices as digital cameras and smartphones. Yoshisuke Hasegawa, Sharp's executive managing officer for LCDs, told news media Friday that "just like black-and-white TVs turned color, all displays will eventually be 3-D." The technology can also be used in large TVs, he said, but at the moment there are no specific plans for this kind of product.
The 3-D screen uses a parallax barrier system, which contains a series of vertical slits to control the light reaching each eye. Since the image is slightly different for each eye, a perception of depth is created.
The company said conventional 3-D no-glasses screens with the parallax system, including ones it has produced, have failed to create high-quality 3-D images, but there have been several improvements in the technology.
One improvement resulted from advances by Sharp in CG-Silicon technology, which creates LCDs using high-performance, crystalline silicon with electron mobility much greater than ordinary silicon. The improved CG-Silicon allows more light to pass through the LCD, thus doubling the brightness.
The parallax design has also been optimized, which increases the efficiency of the light and reduces image-doubling created by the overlapping of left and right images. The newer 3-D LCD has about twice the horizontal and vertical resolution as a conventional 3-D LCD screen, twice the brightness, and a contrast ratio about 10 times greater.
In addition, the conventional 3-D LCD display is only available without touchscreen capability, while the new one can be touchscreen or not.
Sharp said the no-glasses 3-D LCD display is scheduled to begin manufacturing...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Flash, Bah! Apple Says With List of iPad-Ready Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72531
Who needs Flash? Apparently, Apple doesn't think it needs the Adobe multimedia platform that lets developers add animation and other interactive features to web sites. The company has issued a list of what it is calling "iPad-ready web sites" that don't demand Flash to perform.
"iPad features Safari, a mobile web browser that supports the latest web standards -- including HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript," Apple's web site says. Apple then lists a few of the many sites it says are taking advantage of those standards to deliver content that "looks and functions beautifully on iPad."
Those sites include mostly newspapers, magazines and broadcasters. CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, Vimeo, Time, Major League Baseball, The White House, Virgin America, People magazine, and Flickr are among the sites listed as ready for iPad. Apple also offers webmasters the opportunity to submit their site to the "growing list."
"This is Apple's way of demonstrating that its has evangelized e-content partners to create sites that will work just fine on the iPad. It's a way of reassuring consumers that may have any issues over the missing Flash that it's not a particularly big problem," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "And it underscores the fact that there's not likely to be Flash on this device any time soon."
Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided not to include Flash support in the iPad, insulting Adobe Systems and opening the door for the software maker to find partners to rival Apple in tablets. Since then, Apple has seen competitors try to take advantage of its stance.
Hewlett-Packard Vice President and CTO Phil McKinney, for example, wrote a blog post about HP's upcoming iPad competitor in March that promised no watered-down Internet and no sacrifices. The blog was accompanied by a video demonstration of HP's tablet computer...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Flood of Apps Will Be Ready at Apple's iPad Launch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72530
With less than 24 hours to go until Apple officially releases the iPad, companies are coming out of the woodwork with application announcements. A slew of iPad apps will be ready for download at the App Store at launch, from business to entertainment to gaming applications and more.
Disney is one of the most aggressive iPad app providers. Disney's ABC Player app extends the reach of ABC.com's full episode player onto the iPad. That means iPad users can watch free, ad-supported episodes from about 20 television shows over a Wi-Fi connection or purchase content via the iTunes Store.
Disney Publishing Worldwide is getting into the iPad fray with two original Toy Story read-along apps for the iPad, while Disney Online has built a custom iPad version of Disney.com that offers exclusive content. Disney's ESPN is offering a variety of apps as well, from a pinball game to a ScoreCenter app.
"We're going to see probably greater than 1,000 applications when the device launches tomorrow, which is almost unheard of for a new software platform," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "The net result is platform strength for Apple. The availability of so many apps makes the iPad all the more attractive to consumers."
Expecting gaming on the iPad to be as popular as on other Apple mobile devices, EA Mobile has announced five blockbuster games for the iPad: Scrabble, Tetris, Need for Speed SHIFT, Mirror's Edge, and Command & Conquer Red Alert. The games have been developed to take advantage of the iPad's capabilities.
"For example, with Scrabble, we have modernized this family-favorite game by developing a fun, interactive 'Party Play' mode," said Travis Boatman, an EA Mobile vice president. "For our more hard-core fans, Need for Speed SHIFT becomes the ultimate immersive driving experience."
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution announced...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Ford and Microsoft Partner on Electric-Car Charging
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72519
Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft Corp. have signed a deal to work together on a computerized link between houses, electric cars and utility companies to help manage energy use.
The companies said Wednesday at the New York International Auto Show that this is the beginning of a smart system that will help utilities and customers manage energy costs and electrical generating capacity.
The system would start with the all-electric Ford Focus compact car that is scheduled to go on sale late in 2011. Called "Microsoft Hohm," it will allow utilities to vary electric rates based on the time of day. A computer would determine the best time to recharge the car at the lowest cost and the least burden on the utility's generating system.
Charging an electric car can double the energy used at a home, and utilities worry about the increased burden on their power generators. But charging the cars late at night, when appliances and other big electricity users aren't working, can help manage the load.
The companies have time to work out details of exactly how the system will work, figuring out electric rates and loads on generating systems, said Derrick Kuzak, Ford's global product development chief. Microsoft already has computer nodes for home thermostats and appliances to manage electricity use, he said.
"We're doing a lot to bring vehicles to market, but there has to be a lot of other work done from both a consumer and utility perspective to make this viable and affordable," Kuzak said Wednesday in an interview.
The system eventually will lead to homeowners being able to use their cars to power home appliances and cut costs at peak electricity use times, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said Wednesday.
"As the batteries get more capable, we'll be able to store the electricity and then actually start to move the electricity...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
RIM Reports Higher Earnings, But Shares Fall
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72517
BlackBerry phone maker Research In Motion Ltd. on Wednesday reported sharply higher earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter but its stock dropped because its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.
For the three months that ended Feb. 27, RIM earned $710 million, or $1.27 per share. That was up 37 percent from a year earlier and was nearly in line with analysts' predictions of $1.28 per share.
Yet its revenue of $4.08 billion, while rising 18 percent over the same period a year earlier, was short of the $4.31 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The company blamed reductions in inventories held by wireless carriers and lower-than-expected average selling prices for the phones. Those prices are expected to remain low until RIM introduces new BlackBerry models later in the year.
Investors were unmoved by RIM reporting yet another record quarter of BlackBerry sales -- 10.5 million devices during the period, topping the previous record of 10 million set in the third quarter.
Shares of the Canadian company dropped 4.6 percent to $70.55 in extended trading Wednesday after the report came out. Earlier, the stock closed down 95 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $73.97.
RIM's stock had been rising in recent weeks as analysts increased their estimates. Duncan Stewart, director of research and analysis at DSam Consulting, said results wouldn't have been disappointing compared with Wall Street expectations two weeks ago, but they are now.
RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, said it added nearly 5 million net subscriber accounts in the quarter, bringing the total to more than 41 million. RIM had 50.3 percent of the smart phone business in North America in 2009, down from 50.7 percent in 2008 but well ahead of No. 2 Apple Inc., according to market research firm Gartner Inc.
Worldwide, however, RIM has just 20 percent of the...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
'Crowdsourcing' Gets Companies Cheap Help
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72511
Penny-pinching companies are hiring specialists to plumb the vast resources of the Web in search of cheap expert help.
The concept, called "crowdsourcing," is gaining momentum among businesses, non-profits and individuals who are getting work done at a fraction of the normal cost. And with more people online with ultrafast Internet connections, companies have a vast database of experts to choose from.
Why pay an ad agency or employees millions of dollars, the reasoning goes, if you can offer a prize and tap the talents of experts and amateurs worldwide?
"We're turning idle time into income," says Jordan Ritter, founder of CloudCrowd, one of dozens of crowdsourcing services. "There is no shortage of cheap, quality labor out there," says Kelly Thompson, chief operating officer of crowdsourcing vendor iStockphoto.
Crowdsourcing is being used on everything from a Super Bowl ad for Doritos to improvements in movie recommendations on Netflix. Often the projects, such as logo design and open-source software, are largely created by a few individuals.
For example, XLNTads acts as a middleman between major brands such as Procter & Gamble and Anheuser-Busch and its network of 15,000 videographers. The major brands pay XLNTads a fee to help them find creative types to create online and TV ads.
Since 2007, Frito-Lay has dangled prize money and the promise of Super Bowl airtime to wannabe ad execs to create a TV spot for its Doritos chips. It gets thousands of entries and has chosen spots as good as something a Madison Avenue agency might produce for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Little data exist on the fledgling market, but analysts say it is growing in popularity. "Anecdotally, we're seeing more examples of crowdsourcing -- even by the government to make policy (on protecting the environment)," says Joe McKendrick, an independent technology analyst in Philadelphia.
Some companies have gone a step...
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Mobile Operators: Too Many To Make Money?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72509
It was widely reported that Google stole the show at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in February. Google's mighty Internet presence loomed over the mobile-operator community as either an oppressor or an opportunity -- depending on whether or not you were a operator. But while the Google brand name -- like those of Apple and its iPhone and iPad -- guarantees headlines, we should step back and look at the state of the operator community in the light of its own evolution. Is the threat from Internet-based services really the issue?
In both developed and emerging markets, operators are suffering flat or declining revenues as markets become saturated and subscribers expect ever-lower prices. Mobile communications have become a commodity. New services are subsidized or given away to ensure loyalty. Those brave enough to charge a premium are undercut by rival operators bidding for their customers.
We see revenues and margin pressure across the board, with no shortage of customers. China has just passed 500 million subscribers, and India reported 12.5 million new sign-ons in December 2009 alone, according to the Cellular Operators Assn. of India. The key European markets, already saturated with GSM service, could see mobile-broadband subscribers rise from 22 million at the end of last year to more than 43 million in 2011, predicts researcher CCS Insight.
As we compare this subscriber growth with falling revenues, it appears that the real issue for the operator community isn't competition from the Internet world, but overcrowding by low-spending customers. There may be billions of subscribers, but they are simply not using -- and paying for -- enough services to support every operator. The EU's approval of the proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile in the U.K., one of the most competitive mobile markets in the world, may be the start of...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
iPad May Be a Bigger Hit Than Even Apple Expected
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72522
The long-awaited iPad will make its way to Apple Store and Best Buy shelves on Saturday. And Apple primed the buzz pump with a sneak peak on Good Morning America.
"And now to the device that promises to change our lives and how we interact with the written word. Apple's new iPad goes on sale this Saturday. ... it's already sold out," said Good Morning America host Robin Roberts. She then handed it over to a GMA reporter who chronicled the rising buzz for the gadget. Finally, GMA's audience got a hands-on demonstration from the set of the morning television show.
The iPad was also featured in the television show Modern Family on Wednesday night, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on the cover of Time magazine's April 12 issue, which features an interview. Apple also has reportedly approved a Netflix application for the iPad on its App Store.
What can we expect this weekend? "I think if the weather is good, we can expect to see people standing in line for the iPad. It certainly looks like Apple has another hit on its hands," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "Some people may wait for the 3G model, but many consumers will want to get their hands on the device right away."
Reviews from consumer technology magazines are also starting to pour in. The general consensus: It's just as cool as Jobs promised.
So cool, in fact, that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has admitted his initial prediction of 2.7 million iPad sales in 2010 may be too conservative. And Broadpoint Amtech predicts content purchases for the iPad could cause content revenue to equal about 30 percent of the revenue Apple earns from hardware by the end of 2011.
"We believe these signs indicate that initial demand for iPads was...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Amazon Agrees To Let Publishers Set Prices for E-Books
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72521
With Apple's highly publicized iPad launching on April 3, the e-book market is quickly adjusting. Amazon.com, maker of the competing Kindle, has agreed with two major book publishers to drop discounting of popular titles, and Sony said Tuesday that it will similarly take its lead on pricing from publishers.
Amazon's deal, with Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, lines up with reports last week that Apple will offer comparable pricing on the iPad. For Amazon, some best sellers will be listed at $9.99, with most priced in the range of $12.99 to $14.99.
A leaked screenshot of Apple's iBookstore on several Apple fan sites recently indicated that most of Apple's e-books will be $9.99, with some at the higher prices.
However, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Apple's deal with five of the six major book publishers will mirror the pricing structure that Amazon now has. The Journal article indicated that only Random House has yet to conclude a deal with Apple.
Many publishers had indicated opposition to Amazon's pricing of new best sellers in e-book format at $9.99, arguing that it would lower consumers' overall perception of the value of those titles. But the biggest takeaway from the new pricing structure is not the actual price, but the fact that publishers, rather than retailers, will be driving prices for e-book versions of popular titles.
Similarly, Sony will let several major publishers determine the prices of e-book versions of its titles for that company's three e-book readers. According to Business Week, most e-books from Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin and HarperCollins will cost $12.99 to $14.99 on Sony devices.
But while major publishers are driving the pricing structure for the growing e-book industry, they won't be the only players in emerging digital bookstores. On the...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Sprint's Bold Play on 4G Network Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72502
Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest cell-phone carrier, is betting big on 4G. The company has spent several billion dollars in recent years to build wireless broadband service capacity to try to leapfrog larger rivals by offering consumers and businesses fast connections for smartphones, laptops, and other devices.
The advent of 4G networks could present a do-or-die situation for Sprint. Investors are pessimistic about the company's long-term prospects. Sprint is losing more than 2 percent of its highest-paying wireless subscribers each year, nearly double the rate of competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless, according to a Mar. 21 report from Barclays Capital analyst James M. Ratcliffe, who has a "neutral" rating on Sprint's shares.
Sprint bet on Palm's Pre smartphone, which launched to great fanfare in 2009, but which hasn't come close to matching AT&T's sales of Apple's iPhone. Verizon, T-Mobile USA, and AT&T are taking steps to blunt any advantage Sprint might gain as it rolls out its faster network.
As a result, Sprint's stock performance has badly trailed those of its peers since July 2006, when its shares began sliding in value. On Mar. 29, Sprint's shares closed down 1 percent, or 0.26 percent, at 3.79.
To lure customers while keeping current ones loyal, Sprint has recently issued a flurry of announcements about its 4G capabilities. On Mar. 23 at the wireless trade show in Las Vegas, Sprint unveiled the EVO, a smartphone made by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC that will be the first in the U.S. to access a 4G network. It will be capable of dishing up thousands of videos from Web sites such as Hulu, Google's YouTube, and Blockbuster without straining the network.
The device joins Sprint's well-received Overdrive 4G mobile data hotspot introduced in January, which lets users connect up to five...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Invasive Species Offer Business-Innovation Insight
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72501
From the Asian carp to the zebra mussel, invasive species are a major force of change in nature. They radically alter the ecosystems they invade, seize control of important resources from established native species, and create new opportunities for themselves and those that can adapt quickly enough to help exploit the way they affect things. They are the very model of disruptive innovation, sharing certain characteristics that can be used by executives to think afresh about their approach to innovation across all areas of business.
1. Start small. Most non-native species arrive on foreign shores in small numbers. Few survive. Those that go on to become invasive tend to exploit their smallness, which allows them to survive longer, with fewer resources, in uncertain circumstances -- and to keep out of sight of competitors, predators, and parasites until they've learned how to thrive.
Acting small provides the same benefits to business innovators. In addition, thinking small can illuminate market opportunities that large companies typically overlook. Curves, the world's largest health and fitness franchise, can operate in spaces as small as 1,000 square feet. In some markets the company reportedly needs as few as 250 members to be profitable. That means that Curves can serve small, previously overlooked communities.
2. Speed up your cycles to get to resources earlier. Invasive species develop earlier and shorter reproductive cycles, allowing them to exploit precious energy sources before their native competitors. In business, there are significant opportunities for companies that can sync their cycles to their customers' needs, rather than to those of internal planning and reporting departments.
In the retail fashion industry, Zara has reduced design-to-store time from an industry norm of six-to-nine months to two-to-four weeks. Once in the store, the clothing lines stay there for no longer than four weeks, which means Zara's customers in its...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
App Addiction Flourishes in a Connected World
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72500
Meet Barbara Place. She's an app-aholic. One look at her smartphone explains her condition.
She has an app to wake her, a few to provide the day's news, one to check her bank account, another to make a grocery list, two to track her diet and one to get the weather. She has an app for baseball scores and an app for movie data. One app lets her program her DVR from afar. Another helps her unwind with quizzes about famous artworks. And that's just a portion of her daily intake.
"My husband is jealous of my iPhone," says Place, 58, an educational software writer from Phoenix. "I try hard not to use it in bed."
Such stories of dependency are growing as apps -- shorthand for the ubiquitous software applications that live on iPhones, iPod Touches and an array of mobile devices running Google's Android operating system -- continue their inexorable march from cell phone novelties to virtual personal assistants.
More than 100,000 apps now populate Apple's App Store, which opened for business two years ago. Since then, more than 2 billion apps have been downloaded at prices ranging from free to $900 (for iRa Pro, which links a phone to a surveillance camera network).
Tech specialists estimate the annual app market at $2 billion. That probably will grow once Apple's iPad, which arrives Saturday, gets going with a new breed of apps aimed at redefining the user experience.
"The sea change here is that people are gradually moving away from spending time with TV and computers to their mobile devices," says Matt Murphy, who manages the iFund -- which invests in iPhone-specific app developers -- for Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "And that mobile time is increasingly less about talking and all about apps."
He points...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Select Security Software with Care and Caution
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72496
Choosing a computer security program these days can be a daunting task.
More than 20 companies offer security software, and each has multiple versions of its software. Depending on features, the programs can range in price from free to $70 or more.
Meanwhile, you may have heard that Microsoft has been battening down Windows, making its operating system and related programs more secure. That may lead you to wonder whether you should even bother with security software anymore, especially if you have to pay for it.
I'm not a computer security expert, and I'm not going to pretend to know which security program is best. But I have a lot of experience with computers and have talked to many bona fide security experts. From that perspective, I can say without a doubt that it's still important -- perhaps now more than ever -- to run software to protect your computer from malicious programs.
Malware continues to multiply. While Microsoft and other software makers have closed a lot of holes in Windows and other popular programs, new ones are discovered all the time. And the bad guys who exploit such vulnerabilities are endlessly inventive, always finding new ways to break into computers when older routes have been shut off.
Threats can come from a variety of sources, including files stored on USB drives, e-mail attachments and links that seem to come from friends or companies with which you've done business. And Web pages and ads -- even those found on reputable Web sites -- can have malicious code buried within them.
If you don't protect your computer with security software, you run the risk of losing important files, having your personal information compromised or seeing your computer bogged down by malicious programs. Worse, your computer could be turned into a digital Typhoid...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
iPad or iFad: Will Apple's Tablet Soar or Sink?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72495
Some believe the iPad may be the greatest piece of technology since the can opener. Others think it could be as superfluous as the animatronic singing fish toys that were all the rage a few years ago.
But whether Apple's iPad flops or reshapes the entire technology landscape, one thing is clear. For a few days around Saturday's launch of the iPad, you won't be able to browse the Internet, open a newspaper or turn on the TV without being inundated with wonders and woes of Apple's latest gizmo.
But opinions vary widely as to whether the $499 iPad will replicate the amazing success of the iPod and iPhone, or whether it will instead imitate the famous failures of other products once hyped by Apple as revolutionary, such as the Newton, Apple TV and the Mac Cube.
Newsweek was in no doubt about the outcome.
"The iPad will change everything," proclaimed the print weekly, which like other old-media publishers must be hoping that the device, with its 23-centimeter touch screen and purpose-built apps, will finally persuade customers to pay for news content -- just as Apple's iPod and iTunes coaxed people into actually paying for music.
Companies like The New York Times hope to be among the first to show special editions for the iPad, while blue-chip firms such as Unilever, Toyota and Fidelity have already signed up for ad spots in each of Time magazine's first eight iPad issues, paying 200,000 dollars per page. Six advertisers, including Coca-Cola and FedEx, have agreements to place ads in The Wall Street Journal over a four- month period that will cost 400,000 dollars.
But nobody is even sure what iPad owners will use their devices for. Given its lack of a physical keyboard, its inability to multitask or run more than one program at once, and its lack...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Senator Says Mobile Devices Hinder Privacy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72494
Broadening wiretap laws to include videotaped surveillance could either safeguard privacy or thwart efforts to recover stolen property, a U.S. senator was told Monday at a hearing not far from a school that's being sued for trying to find missing laptops by activating their webcams.
Sen. Arlen Specter, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said at a field hearing of a Senate subcommittee that he believes existing wiretap and video-voyeurism statutes do not adequately address concerns in an era marked by the widespread use of cell-phone, laptop and surveillance cameras.
Specter had said earlier that federal legislation might be needed to regulate the technology and said later Monday that testimony at the Philadelphia hearing had convinced him. Among those testifying, from a statement read into the record at the hearing, was Blake Robbins, the Harriton High School student who sued the Lower Merion School District.
"My family and I recognize that in today's society, almost every place we go outside of our home we are photographed and recorded by traffic cameras, ATM cameras, and store surveillance cameras," Robbins wrote. "This makes it all the more important that we vigilantly safeguard our homes, the only refuge we have from this eyes everywhere onslaught."
Robbins accuses the district of spying by secretly activating webcams on the school-issued laptops; officials admit they did so but said they were trying only to locate 42 lost or stolen computers.
Neither Robbins nor his parents attended the session, which did not specifically focus on the Lower Merion case -- the subject of ongoing county and FBI investigations. Instead, five experts debated how best to strike a balance between privacy and security concerns.
Lawyer Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that wiretap laws, which now cover audio recordings, should be broadened to include videotaped surveillance. But others disagreed, arguing that wiretap charges should...
Fri, 2 Apr 10
Facebook Says 'Fans' Are Out, 'Like' Is In
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72492
Facebook is about to change the way it asks its users to connect to brands and celebrities on the site. Rather than ask people to "become a fan" of say, Starbucks or Lady Gaga, Facebook will instead let users click that they like the subject.
Facebook already lets people show that they like comments or pictures posted on the site, and it says users click that term almost twice as much as they click "become a fan." Facebook says changing the button will make users more comfortable with linking up with a brand and will streamline the site.
Businesses use Facebook pages, which are free to create, to connect with their customers and promote their brands. Facebook makes money from the advertisements these companies often use to draw users to their pages. The average user becomes a fan of four pages each month, according to Facebook.
"The idea of liking a brand is a much more natural action than (becoming a fan) of a brand," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, which helps companies establish their brands and advertise on social networks such as Facebook. "In many ways it's a lower threshold."
But while it might seem to be less of a commitment to declare that you "like" Coca-Cola than to announce you are a fan of it, the meaning essentially would stay the same: Your Facebook friends would see that you clicked that you "like" a page, and such pages would still be listed on your Facebook profile for anyone to see.
The world's largest online social network is known for constantly tweaking the way users experience the site. This often draws complaints, but Facebook continues to draw millions of new fans. More than half of its 400 million users log in every day.
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Developers Lose Interest in iPad Days Before Its Release
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72506
Developers have a decreased interest in creating applications for the Apple iPad, according to a survey conducted this week. The iPad, which is slated to be available on Saturday, will have to stand out to continue to attract interest from developers.
In January, developers were excited to begin writing applications for the then-rumored iPad. A poll of 1,028 developers showed 90 percent were planning to create apps for the iPad, according to Appcelerator, an application development services company.
Now that interest has declined, a new Appcelerator survey shows. Only 80 percent of developers are "interested" in writing apps for the iPad and 53 percent are "very interested," the new survey found.
"Developers are settling into a more pragmatic approach to the iPad," said Scott Schwarzhoff, vice president of marketing for Appcelerator. "It is off a bit from January, and it looks like businesses are starting to put the platform into context against their other development objectives for 2010. This may actually benefit Apple the most in the long run as businesses look to see where the iPad fits due to business need rather than just pure hype and speculation."
The latest survey, conducted between March 23 and 25, also found a more competitive landscape. Developers are no longer committing to just the iPhone, iPad and Android, and competition is heating up.
Mobile platforms are seeing a tight race. The iPhone and Google's Android are at the top against one another. In January, 86 percent of those surveyed were interested in writing apps for the iPhone, and 68 percent for Android. The results from last week's survey, however, show a smaller gap with 87 percent interested in the iPhone and 81 percent in Android.
"The mandate for a strategic and cost-effective cross-platform approach to mobile and tablet development has never been clearer," Schwarzhoff...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
New Cisco Routers Simplify Wireless Home Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72505
Cisco Systems unveiled a new Linksys router lineup Wednesday that promises to make it easier for consumers to customize and control their home wireless networks. Cisco also is copying the design simplicity of its Flip Video products in a new wireless router called Valet.
The new Linksys E-series devices are intended to serve the company's core technology-minded consumer base, while the new Valet is "home wireless made easy," said Cisco Systems Senior Vice President Jonathan Kaplan.
"Consumers have felt powerless and frustrated with the entire process of home wireless, but with Valet we are tearing down the walls and opening it up to everyone," Kaplan said. "The market for wireless-enabled products is exploding and now mainstream users will be able to take full advantage of all the new opportunities."
Cisco's push to make wireless routing easier for consumers is based on the perception that there remains room for growth. According to IDC, only one-third of U.S. homes are set up for wireless use.
Valet ships with Cisco Connect software that reduces the complexity of getting a home wireless network up and running to three steps. Moreover, the USB-enabled setup key that ships with each unit retains all setup information, allowing users to add computing devices to the network at any time by inserting the key and letting Cisco's software do the rest.
Once the home wireless system is up and running, users can set parental controls as well as provide Internet access for guests on a separate guest network. Parents also will be able to use Cisco Connect to limit children's web usage to certain days and times, or even for temporary periods.
The Valet, which is suitable for small to midsize homes with primarily wireless devices, is priced at $99.99. The Valet Plus, for midsize to large homes...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
New API Standard Could Improve Browser Plug-Ins
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72504
Google will integrate the Adobe Flash Player into its Chrome browser and work with Adobe Systems, Mozilla and others to define the next generation of the browser plug-in application programming interface (API). The announcement Tuesday by the search giant could have an impact on competition among mobile devices and on the next generation of multimedia on the web.
Initially distributed through Google's developer channel, the integrated Chrome with Flash will eventually be available to all Chrome users. This means that users who download Chrome will also receive the latest version of the Flash player, without having to download and install it separately. Updates to Flash will be made automatically, using Chrome's auto-update feature.
Improving the browser plug-in API, wrote Google Vice President of Engineering Linus Upson in a post on the company's Chromium blog, will "make it possible for plug-ins to be just as fast, stable and secure as the browser's HTML and JavaScript engine." He added that, eventually, HTML, Flash and other plug-ins will be able to be used "more seamlessly in rendering and scripting."
Paul Betiem of Adobe's Flash Player engineering team wrote Tuesday on the company's Flash blog that the new API will be operating system- and browser-neutral, will enable plug-ins to be more tightly integrated with browsers, and will be more secure. He also said there should be a performance boost because information will be shared more readily between plug-in and browser.
The announcement by Google comes at a time when some industry observers have speculated that the company was trying to position the new HTML5 standard as a multimedia alternative to Adobe's proprietary Flash technology.
Last week, video platform vendor Brightcove announced a new framework to serve HTML5 video for users on an Apple iPhone, iPod touch, or the upcoming iPad. Apple has been the most...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Intel's Xeon 7500 Series Could Be a Server Game-Changer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72503
Intel on Tuesday launched the Xeon 7500 processor series. The new processors are expandable to include two to 256 chips per server and offer an average performance three times better than the company's 7400 series.
Kirk Skaugen, vice president of the Intel architecture group and general manager of Intel's data-center group, boldly proclaimed that Intel is democratizing high-end computing with its Nehalem EX processors.
What's certain is that the processor's capabilities make it possible for IT managers to consolidate up to 20 older single-core, four-chip servers onto a single server while maintaining the same level of performance. That, Intel said, could mean up to a 92 percent reduction in energy costs and a one-year ROI due to reductions in power, cooling and licensing costs.
For years, a clear line separated the capabilities of servers based on Intel's x86 microprocessor architecture and "enterprise class" UNIX and mainframe systems, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
"People argued over the length, width and clarity of the line, but the reliability, availability and security of UNIX and mainframes typically gave them the technological edge," King said. "As a result, x86 system proponents tended to focus on the overall price and performance advantages of those servers, in effect arguing, 'Okay, x86 can't absolutely beat those systems' RAS features. But how much extra are you willing to pay for those capabilities?'"
Good enough computing -- the point where the performance premium offered by higher-end systems is overtaken or subsumed by the price of x86 -- was the way former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina described this divide. But King said the evolution of so-called "good enough" solutions has been deadly for enterprise systems over the last decade. King credits Intel, which started the x86 ball rolling, with innovation in the space. He said the Xeon 7500 series...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Jury Rules Novell Owns Open-Source Copyrights for Unix
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72486
The legal battle by Novell and The SCO Group over Unix may have reached its conclusion. On Tuesday, a federal jury said the rights to the widely used open-source operating system do not belong to SCO.
Novell President and CEO Ron Hovsepian said the decision by the District Court of Utah "is good news for Novell" and for the open-source community. He added that he is "proud of Novell's role in protecting the best interests" of the open-source movement.
In 1995, Novell sold its Unix technology to the Santa Cruz Operation, but has maintained that it retained ownership of the Unix intellectual property. Six years later, the technology was sold by Santa Cruz to a company that later became The SCO Group. In 2003, SCO announced lawsuits against Novell, IBM and others.
Ian Bruce, chief marketing officer at Novell, wrote on the company blog Tuesday that the lawsuit about Unix copyrights included an "attack on Linux" by SCO. He said Novell "remains committed to promoting Linux, including by defending Linux on the intellectual-property front."
SCO's case was built around a contested section of the contract that could be read as keeping Unix copyrights for Novell. SCO's witnesses included former Novell CEO and Chairman Robert Frankenberg, who testified that the intent of the contract had been to sell all rights to Unix.
In 2008, The SCO Group lost a decision in a U.S. District Court, which awarded $3.5 million to Novell. That decision was upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, but part of the case -- the part that has just been decided -- was sent back for a jury trial.
The verdict could have an impact on the two companies. Novell recently turned down a unsolicited takeover offer from a hedge fund on the grounds that...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Google-China Struggle Spreads To Yahoo, Vietnam
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72485
The drama between China and Google continues, but Yahoo and Vietnam are getting dragged into the international investigation as new revelations come out of Asia. Google's search engine was not accessible across most of China late Tuesday. Although neither Google nor the Chinese government has confirmed the source of the disruption, some are assuming Internet censors in the communist nation are blocking the site.
Google has offered mixed possibilities. The Internet giant initially thought the root cause was a change it made to the string of characters that accompanies search requests. That change, Google thought, could have prevented the queries from passing through China's filters. Later, however, Google announced those changes had been made a week earlier and put the issue back on China.
The outages came in the aftermath of Google refusing to censor results on Google.cn. The Internet giant started directing search traffic to Google.com.hk last week. Google is offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese via its Hong Kong servers.
The drama began in January when Google revealed a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on its corporate infrastructure that originated from China in December. That attack, Google said, resulted in theft of the search giant's intellectual property.
But Google is not the only Internet company experiencing issues in Asia. The Yahoo e-mail accounts of journalists and activists who deal with issues related to China were hacked.
Beginning March 25, some journalists in Taiwan and China could not log into their Yahoo e-mail accounts. According to Reuters, World Uyghur Congress, an exile group that has accused China of ethnic separatism, was among the affected organizations. Yahoo has publicly condemned the attacks.
"China and those promoting the interests of the Chinese government against dissent and criticism are now waging what appears to be a battle against Google and the Internet more broadly,"...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Keeping Track of Late-Night Comedy Online
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72474
Jimmy Kimmel pepped up his post-Oscar special on ABC with a little help from some hotties -- Ethan Hawke, Patrick Dempsey, Matthew McConaughey and Sting -- in a Handsome Men's Club skit.
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It was a memorable moment in late-night TV. But to a certain extent, television was beside the point. Kimmel's monologue is long forgotten, but the Handsome Men's Club lives on.
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Kimmel's club was built to last, judging by the segment's life online. On YouTube alone, it has been seen more than 1.8 million times.
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In only a couple of years and after much soul-searching by network executives, the Internet has transformed the late-night television experience. Staying up past midnight and switching channels trying to stay awake during the commercials? That's your dad's way to watch.
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With a few mouse clicks one morning last week, it was possible to watch Jay Leno's monologue from the night before, along with David Letterman's Top 10 list, Tina Fey telling Tracy Morgan stories, Jimmy Fallon using the words of angry conservative talk show hosts in an audience karaoke contest and Kimmel interviewing actress Gabrielle Union.
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The good news for NBC is I never miss an episode of `Saturday Night Live,' said Steve Farella, CEO of the media firm TargetCast tcm. The bad news for NBC is that I never stay up anymore.
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Making the comic material available online was a tough decision for the networks. They want their stars to have buzz, and you can't do that offline. Yet if you make it to easy for people to see either a full episode or cull the best bits, viewership could plummet and so could the rates paid by advertisers, networks' chief source of revenue.
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Certainly, there has been plenty of hand-wringing over the years, said Vivi Zigler, head of NBC's digital unit.
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Testing is ongoing, but so far the conclusion...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Will Apple's iPad Be Kindle's First Big Threat?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72473
Amazon.com, which has dominated the young but fast-growing electronic book market for the past few years with the Kindle, could get its biggest threat Saturday, when Apple releases its iPad multimedia tablet.
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The Kindle starts at $259 and is designed mainly for reading text on a gray-and-black screen. The iPad starts at $499, but with the higher price comes more functions: a color touch screen for downloading books from Apple's new iBookstore, surfing the Web, playing videos and games and more.
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It will take time to determine whether the iPad causes a tremor in the e-reader market, a high-magnitude quake or something in between. But in the meantime people who read electronic books or are considering buying a reading device will find their choices getting more complicated.
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If the Kindle e-reader falls out of favor with people drawn to Apple's offering, there could be a very thick silver lining for Amazon: It sells e-books that can be read on many kinds of devices, including the iPad and other Apple gadgets. That means the Kindle could fade and Amazon could still occupy a profitable perch in e-books.
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However, Apple could find ways to tilt the field in its favor. At least for now, both the Apple iBookstore and the Kindle service will be accessible in much the same way on the iPad -- as application icons that users can click. Eventually Apple could give its own bookstore and reading program more attention on the iPad.
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Apple also could try to curry favor with publishers in a way that matters to consumers, perhaps by securing exclusive titles.
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Publishers' relationships with Amazon have been strained by Amazon's insistence on charging $9.99 for some popular e-books. Publishers have complained that it is an attempt to get consumers used to unsustainably low prices. Amazon takes a loss on some books at...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Acer and AsusTek Plan Tablet Computers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72467
Acer Inc. and AsusTek Computer Inc. are developing tablet computers to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad and plan to unveil them at an industry show in June, an official said Tuesday.
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Acer, the world's third-largest PC vendor, and AsusTek are among Taiwanese computer companies that are developing or assembling up to 10 tablets for foreign makers, said Li Chang, an executive of the Taipei Computer Association. He did not identify the other producers.
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Acer and AsusTek are expected to display tablet PCs at the Computex show in Taipei on June 1-5, Li said.
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Officials at Acer and AsusTek declined comment. But Taiwan's Economic Daily News quoted unidentified sources as saying the two firms will launch tablet PCs in the third quarter this year with a price tag below $400.
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Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer hits U.S. shelves on Saturday and international releases are planned for later in April. The iPads will connect to Wi-Fi networks and cost $499, $599 or $699, depending on the data storage capacity.
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A Taiwanese research firm, Topoly Research Institute, said Tuesday tablet PCs might cut into shrinking sales of mini-laptops known as netbooks, a market dominated by Acer and AsusTek.
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By 2012, sales of tablet PCs could reach 50 million units worldwide, surpassing the figure for netbooks, Topology Research said.
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Recovering More Disk Space in Windows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72447
Large hard drives may be plentiful these days, but you can still face storage constraints. You could be coping with a small hard drive provided by your company. Or maybe you're trying to squeeze some life out of an older hard drive that you aren't ready to upgrade.
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Those splurging on today's fast solid state drives (SSDs) are pleased with their performance, but must constantly worry about running out of disk space, as SSDs have a lower capacity than traditional drives.
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Bottom line: it's still important to know how to recover some disk space, while retaining the applications that you need. Here's a checklist of how to proceed.
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subhead
What's Eating Your Drive?
/subhead
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You cannot begin to know how to recover hard-drive space until you can get an overview of which files and folders are occupying the most space.
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Windows doesn't give you any built-in tools for seeing, at a glance, just how large some folders are relative to others. Luckily, you can turn to the free FolderSize (http://sourceforge.net/projects/foldersize).
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Install this open source program and your Windows Explorer file manager will be enhanced with a folder size option in the file and folder display area. Just click on a drive, and right-click one of the column headings in the file pane (name, date modified, type, etc.).
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There, in the right-click menu, you'll see a folder size option. Select it and a new folder size column appears. In it, Windows will calculate and display the total size of the folders on your hard drive. Double-click a folder to drill one level down, activate folder size, and you'll see the sizes of the subfolders.
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You can use this tool to quickly hone in on disk-eating files and folders. Without it, you're largely left guessing about where all of your disk space has gone. Once you've located the problem areas on your...
Thu, 1 Apr 10
Security Holes Found in 'Smart' Meters
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=72444
Computer-security researchers say new smart meters that are designed to help deliver electricity more efficiently also have flaws that could let hackers tamper with the power grid in previously impossible ways.
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At the very least, the vulnerabilities open the door for attackers to jack up strangers' power bills. These flaws also could get hackers a key step closer to exploiting one of the most dangerous capabilities of the new technology, which is the ability to remotely turn someone else's power on and off.
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The attacks could be pulled off by stealing meters -- which can be situated outside of a home -- and reprogramming them. Or an attacker could sit near a home or business and wirelessly hack the meter from a laptop, according to Joshua Wright, a senior security analyst with InGuardians Inc. The firm was hired by three utilities to study their smart meters' resistance to attack.
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These utilities, which he would not name, have already done small deployments of smart meters and plan to roll the technology out to hundreds of thousands of power customers, Wright told The Associated Press.
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There is no evidence the security flaws have been exploited, although Wright said a utility could have been hacked without knowing it. InGuardians said it is working with the utilities to fix the problems.
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Power companies are aggressively rolling out the new meters. In the U.S. alone, more than 8 million smart meters have been deployed by electric utilities and nearly 60 million should be in place by 2020, according to a list of publicly announced projects kept by The Edison Foundation, an organization focused on the electric industry.
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Unlike traditional electric meters that merely record power use -- and then must be read in person once a month by a meter reader -- smart meters measure consumption in real time. By being...