Newsfactor Technology
Main
Technology
Army TechnologyCyberwars
Military Technology
Newsfactor Technology
Technology World
Yahoo Technology
Random Feeds
Archives
| Feb 2012 | Jan 2012 | Dec 2011 | Nov 2011 | Oct 2011 | Sep 2011 | Aug 2011 | Jul 2011 | Jun 2011 | May 2011 | Apr 2011 | Mar 2011 | Feb 2011 | Jan 2011 | Dec 2010 | Nov 2010 | Oct 2010 | Sep 2010 | Aug 2010 | Jul 2010 | Jun 2010 | May 2010 | Apr 2010 | Mar 2010 | Feb 2010 | Jan 2010 | Dec 2009 | Nov 2009 | Oct 2009 | Sep 2009 | Aug 2009 | Jul 2009 | Jun 2009 | May 2009 | Apr 2009 | Mar 2009 | Feb 2009 | Jan 2009 | Dec 2008 | Nov 2008 | Oct 2008 | Sep 2008 | Aug 2008 | Jul 2008 | Jun 2008 | May 2008 | Apr 2008 | Mar 2008 | Feb 2008 | Jan 2008 | Dec 2007 | Nov 2007 |Wed, 30 Jun 10
HTC EVO 4G Update Halted as Some Phones Fail
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74103
The remedy proved worse than the malady for some Sprint Nextel EVO 4G users Monday as a firmware update caused some of the popular smartphones to fail. The over-the-air, 21.43-megabyte update was meant to improve Wi-Fi reception, use of e-mail and Facebook, and extend battery life, and for most users that's what it did. But for some it caused the phones to shut down.
As complaints came in, Sprint and manufacturer HTC sent out a second update that also caused phones to brick, or fail. Sprint stopped the update and told users with dead phones to replace them under warranty.
"While the vast majority of consumers successfully downloaded and installed the most recent HTC EVO 4G software update, we have received a handful of reports from customers having some issues with the update," Sprint said. "In light of this, HTC and Sprint have decided to temporarily halt distribution of this software release until we can investigate further. We expect to be able to resume software updates shortly."
A Sprint-run EVO forum quickly filled up with user comments about the firmware flub.
"Should I seriously have to concern myself with whether or not an update will BRICK MY NEW PHONE?" asked poster Raymondcool.
But CCERose1 wrote: "My phone updated fine. In fact, my phone updated twice without bricking. I'm not in a 4G area, so I can't say anything about that, but I have not experienced any slowdown when having multiple apps running ... Lastly, I got the best battery life after the install since getting my EVO at launch."
The blunder came on the same day Sprint announced the imminent release of a second 4G smartphone to take advantage of its WiMAX high-speed network, the Samsung Epic 4G.
But while embarrassing for Sprint, the mishap should have no long-term impact on consumer confidence, said Avi Greengart...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
iPhone 4 Shortages Hurt Apple, But Rivals Are Also Scarce
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74101
Could Apple's success come back to haunt it? Apple's problems keeping up with iPhone 4 demand are causing some observers to question the company's supply-chain management and leading frustrated customers to look at competing smartphones.
So says iSuppli. According to the market-research firm, Apple will ship 21.7 million iPhone 4s in 2010. That's 51 percent of the 42.6 million iPhones the company will ship this year. The demand has seen Apple rise to the number-three position in the smartphone market, behind Nokia and Research In Motion. But shipping delays and shortages may be hurting Apple's reputation.
"While the channel-supply issue might not impact total iPhone sales for the entire year, what is happening now certainly has done some damage to the Apple brand," said Tina Teng, senior analyst for wireless communications at iSuppli. "Consumers, questioning Apple's supply-chain management capability, have started looking for alternative devices. In particular, consumers are not satisfied with Apple's response to the antenna issue causing poor reception and dropped calls."
iSuppli noted options for aggravated customers, including the Nokia N8, the HTC EVO 4G, and the Samsung Galaxy S. Indeed, Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, said higher-end Android devices are narrowing the smartphone competition gap with Apple.
Even though he considers the Apple iPhone 4 the best phone on the market, Greengart said if customers can't get an iPhone 4, they may opt for another phone. Then again, other handset makers are also having problems keeping up with demand.
"HTC has also had difficulty keeping some of its high-end Android phones in supply. The Droid Incredible at Verizon Wireless is one example. HTC has simply not been able to make enough of those," Greengart said. "In fact, HTC has had so much difficulty that they are broadening their supply-chain base for screen technology. Sprint is...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Cisco Plans Business Tablet for Mobile Collaboration
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74100
Cisco, apparently wondering why consumers should have all the tablet fun, announced on Tuesday a "mobile collaboration business tablet." The new device, called Cius (pronounced "see-us"), is based on Google's open-source Android operating system and provides virtual desktop integration with Cisco's collaboration and communications applications.
The tablet weighs in at 1.15 lbs, and supports HD video streaming, multiparty conferencing, e-mail, messaging, browsing and applications for creating, editing and sharing content in a local network or through the cloud. An optional HD audio station has a speakerphone, HD DisplayPort and USB ports, and, for audio conferences, there are dual noise-canceling microphones. Connectivity includes 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-FI and 3G, with 4G available later.
There's also a 720p front-mounted HD camera and a five-megapixel camera on back, a seven-inch-high super VGA touchscreen, and a detachable eight-hour battery. As with an increasing number of mobile devices, an accelerometer allows the display to orient in either a portrait or landscape mode as the user turns the device.
Tony Bates, Cisco senior vice president and general manager of enterprise, commercial and small business, noted the wide range of uses and users Cisco has in mind for its new product line. He said the Cius "can transform how health-care professional advance patient care, how retailers deliver service experiences to consumers, or how universities deliver world-class education to their students."
While the tablet is being directed at businesses, the student market is growing and Cisco's emphasis on communication and collaboration could appeal to that market as well.
"Best of all," Bates said, the Cius allows IT departments a way to "dramatically lower the cost per user of provisioning those new experiences."
The Cius will support a wide range of Cisco collaboration applications, including the social-collaboration business platform Quad, the Show and Share "social video system," WebEx...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Seagate Launches 3TB External Drive as File Needs Rise
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74099
Seagate has rolled out the world's first external hard drive to exceed two terabytes of storage capacity. Featuring 3TB, the FreeAgent GoFlex Desk introduced Tuesday will enable users to store up to 120 high-definition movies, 1,500 computer games, countless hours of music tracks, or thousands of digital photos, the company said.
Priced at $249.99, Seagate's latest digital storage device for home and office applications delivers the highest-capacity solution available today, said Seagate Executive Vice President Dave Mosley.
"Seagate has a tradition of designing products that break into new storage frontiers to meet customer requirements," Mosley said. "Consumer capacity demands are quickly outpacing the needs of business as people continue to collect high-definition videos, photos and music."
The 3TB drive is the latest addition to the GoFlex product line that Seagate introduced early last month. All GoFlex drives include an NTFS driver for the Mac that allows it to read and write to a GoFlex drive formatted for a PC, noted Seagate Product Marketing Manager Greg Falgiano.
"With just a one-time install of the driver on your Mac computer, you can seamlessly go between your Mac and your PC without any headaches along the way," Falgiano wrote in a blog.
Featuring a sleek black, 3.5-inch design that can be seated either vertically or horizontally, the GoFlex Desk ships pre-loaded with encryption software for protecting the security and privacy of the user's files. To increase the device's data-transfer speeds by up to 10 times the standard USB 2.0 interface, users can purchase an optional USB 3.0 adapter for $39.99 or a FireWire 800 adapter for $49.99.
Users can pair Seagate's GoFlex drives with an optional TV HD media player that enables home-entertainment systems to directly access, play and display movies, photos, music and other digital content. Even better, the broader...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Google Tests China Search Change To Keep License
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74083
Google is looking for creative ways to remain true to its uncensored search stance in China as it seeks to renew its operating license in the communist nation. For the past three months, Google has been redirecting traffic to its uncensored Hong Kong search engine, but is moving to reverse that motion with a twist.
Apparently, Google isn't as willing to leave China as some thought.
David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer at Google, set the stage for a possible position swing by pointing to Google's quest to increase information while abiding by Chinese law from the first day it launched Google.cn.
"This redirect, which offers unfiltered search in simplified Chinese, has been working well for our users and for Google," he said. "However, it's clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable -- and that if we continue redirecting users, our Internet content provider license will not be renewed."
Google's ICP license is up for renewal on June 30. Of course, without an ICP license Google can't operate a commercial web site like Google.cn. Google is at the Chinese government's mercy. If China doesn't renew Google's license, Google will effectively go dark in China. So Drummond put the decision to change direction on the backs of Chinese Internet users.
Specifically, Drummond said many of Google's Chinese users dread the prospect of Google going dark and have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive.
"We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk -- where users can conduct a web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
'Leaked' Docs Outline Windows 8 and Future PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74082
Microsoft's newly released Windows 7? That's so yesterday. The web is buzzing about apparently leaked documents showing the company's thinking for Windows 8.
Eighteen documents, which appear to have been part of an internal Microsoft presentation, were first published on an Italian site, Windowsette, and have now migrated to various industry-watching sites. The PowerPoint slides include projections of up-to-date technology for the next Windows, such as faster boot times, support for USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0, touch input, and HD video. More intriguing are next-generation features such as facial recognition, wireless 3-D displays, attention detection, and easier self-diagnostics.
Microsoft has not commented on the purported documents. According to the documents, Windows 8 would primarily target three form factors -- the Lap PC, the Workhorse PC, and the Family Hub PC.
One of the slides describes the Lap PC as optimized for web, media consumption, casual gaming, IMs, social networking, and e-mail. The Workhorse PC's key features are productivity applications, a heavier use of e-mail, and media organization and manipulation. The Family Hub PC is the same as the Workhouse, but with less emphasis on productivity and a greater emphasis on gaming.
The Workhorse most closely resembles today's PC, but it includes facial recognition and a feature called "My PC Knows Me."
Facial recognition would utilize the webcams present on many new computers, enabling the operating system to recognize the user and automatically log on. Different users are logged into different accounts. When the user leaves, a proximity sensor knows he or she has left and logs off.
The Lap PC is an iPad-like tablet, with an accelerometer for gaming and screen orientation that automatically shifts between portrait and landscape views. There is also ambient light detection to optimize the display, as well as attention detection, which can...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Handheld Device Speeds Flight Check-In
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74072
American Airlines agents who roam airport check-in lobbies with a handheld computing device can now print boarding passes.
To prevent long lines at check-in counters and self-service kiosks, the carrier began experimenting with the device -- called Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere -- in October at Boston Logan. They're now available for agents at nine airports: Dallas/Fort Worth, Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Miami, St. Louis and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The device can also check flight status, provide connecting information, display maps of other airports and print baggage tags for customers checking luggage.
The device will be deployed during peak traffic hours and after canceled or delayed flights. "Our agents are going to approach you," spokeswoman Stacey Frantz says.
The boarding passes printed by the device are smaller than the ones issued by counter agents or kiosks, but are approved by the Transportation Security Administration.
Frantz says the carrier will introduce the service at more airports by the end of the year and eventually assign agents to use the device at every gate.
Customers still have to see counter agents or use self-service kiosks for more complicated transactions, such as checking in for international flights or upgrading with miles.
Wed, 30 Jun 10
LinkedIn: Your Job Search Secret Weapon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74067
If you're a business or professional person and not using LinkedIn, you're behind the curve. Seventy million business networkers must be on to something. LinkedIn is the 800-pound gorilla of business networking sites and an essential tool for job seekers in particular. According to the LinkedIn Web site, a new user joins the site every second, and it's easy to see why. LinkedIn is a free billboard for businesspeople. It showcases not only your name, photo, and professional credentials but also your colleagues' recommendations, your brilliant thinking (by way of a PowerPoint presentation or white paper attached to your profile), and your excellent roster of connections.
The way to begin your career on LinkedIn is to build a sharp profile. Jump over to LinkedIn.com to create a login and password and begin to fill out your profile. LinkedIn helps you in your profile-building project by providing a handy thermometer-type tool that tells you how complete your profile is.(Until your profile looks fairly complete, resist the temptation to start inviting your friends to join you on LinkedIn.) Push on until you've reached at least the 70-percent mark. If you have a little more energy, use the Applications at the bottom of the profile-editing page to add a PowerPoint deck, your full-text resume in Word format, an article you wrote, your own blog, or other content to your profile. Last, create a personalized LinkedIn URL for yourself, like this: http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/yourname, and use that URL on your resume, job-search business cards, and job-search-related correspondence. Now rest and give yourself a pat on the back. You've arrived on the business-networking scene.
Of course, launching a LinkedIn profile is only the first step. LinkedIn offers tons more in the way of friendly functionality for your job search. Not sure how to leverage LinkedIn in your job search?...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Lock Down Your Browser for Secure Web Surfing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74064
Web browsers are the key to the Internet. Without them the Internet is an impenetrable black box.
Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser for security.
The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: "Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards," he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.
There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.
Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged Web sites. It's also a good idea to prohibit Web sites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.
Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.
Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
Obama's Twitter Hacker Convicted in France
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74058
A court in central France has convicted a young Frenchman accused of infiltrating Twitter and peeping at the account of President Barack Obama, and given him a five-month suspended prison sentence.
The lawyer for Francois Cousteix, whose online name was Hacker Croll, said his client was happy with Thursday evening's decision by the Clermont-Ferrand court. He risked up to two years in prison and a 30,000 euro fine for breaking into a data system.
"The verdict is satisfying, given all the media pressure that built up," attorney Jean-Francois Canis said Friday by telephone.
Cousteix, 24, infiltrated Twitter, and the accounts of Obama and singers Britney Spears and Lilly Allen, among other celebrities, but maintained that his motives were good -- to warn Internet users about data security.
Prosecutors said Cousteix did not have access to sensitive information about the American president.
Cousteix managed to break into the accounts by searching information that is most commonly used for passwords, such as birth dates or pet names, on social networking sites. He lives with his parents and has no college degree, and has not had any special computer training.
After his arrest, Cousteix told France-3 television, "It's a message I wanted to get out to Internet users, to show them that no system is invulnerable."
Twitter said last July that it was the victim of a security breach.
The French prosecutor said Cousteix infiltrated the accounts of several Twitter administrative employees. He was able to access information such as contracts with partners and resumes from job applicants.
Hacker Croll e-mailed some of the documents to TechCrunch, a widely read technology blog, and it subsequently published some of them, including financial projections. Some of the material was more embarrassing than damaging, like floor plans for new office space and a pitch for a Twitter TV show.
It is not the first time this...
Wed, 30 Jun 10
White House Unveils Cybersecurity Plans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74056
In the murky world of the Internet, how do you ever really know who you're talking to, who you're buying from or if your bank can actually tell it's you when you log in to pay a bill?
Amid growing instances of identity theft, bank account breaches and sophisticated Internet scams, the government is looking for ways to make those transactions in cyberspace more secure.
But officials must tread carefully, as efforts to create identity cards, personal certificates or other systems of identifiers raise privacy worries and fears of Big Brother tracking its citizens online.
In a draft plan released Friday, the White House laid out an argument for a yet-undeveloped, voluntary identification system and set up a Web site to gather input from experts and everyday Internet users on how it should be structured.
The Web site was already getting votes, snipes and suggestions Friday afternoon -- underscoring the incendiary nature of any discussion of Internet regulation or formal structure.
"The technology that has brought many benefits to our society and has empowered us to do so much has also empowered those who are driven to cause harm," said White House cyber coordinator Howard Schmidt in a blog posting Friday outlining the need for better security online.
The plan, he said, envisions a future in which people would be able to get a secure identifier -- such as a smart identity card or a digital certificate -- from a variety of service providers. Customers could then use the card or identifier to prove who they are as they make their online transactions.
"Digital authentication has been the holy grail of Internet security policy since the early '90s," said James Lewis, cyber security expert and senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. This latest effort, he said, has a better chance of succeeding...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Supreme Court SOX Ruling Has IT Implications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74080
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge that could have changed the face of the Sarbanes-Oxley law. Passed in 2002 as a response to the financial scandals that rocked corporate America (read: Enron and WorldCom), the constitutionality of Sarbanes-Oxley was challenged in the high court.
The court ruled against a challenge to the part of the law that set in motion the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The PCAOB works to regulate the accounting industry. The ruling surprised some analysts, who thought the court might overturn the law due to issues with the way the accounting board is appointed.
"Independent regulation of the profession post-Sarbanes Oxley has strengthened audit quality and confidence in financial reporting," said James Turley, global chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young. "We are pleased that the court's decision provides that the PCAOB's independent oversight can continue without interruption."
Instead of throwing out the law, the court decided that limits on the way members of the oversight board could be removed was unconstitutional. This ruling means the Securities and Exchange Commission, charged with appointing the PCAOB's five members, can now legally remove members for any reason. Previously, board members could only be removed with good cause.
"The Sarbanes-Oxley Act remains 'fully operative as a law' with these tenure restrictions excised," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "Concluding that the removal restrictions are invalid leaves the board removable by the commission at will, and leaves the president separated from board members by only a single level of good-cause tenure. The commission is then fully responsible for the board's actions, which are no less subject than the commission's own functions to presidential oversight."
When President George Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law on July 30, 2002, he called it "the most far-reaching...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Sprint's Second 4G Phone Will Be Samsung's Epic
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74079
Three weeks after launching the first 4G smartphone, the fast-selling HTC EVO, Sprint Nextel has announced a follow-up, this one made by Samsung. The Epic 4G will be Samsung Mobile's first Android offering, with a four-inch screen, slightly smaller than EVO's 4.3 inches; a one-gigahertz Hummingbird processor; a slide-out QWERTY keyboard; front and back cameras (like the iPhone); and other features like Swype, a system that allows texting by dragging a finger across the touchscreen.
The price and availability of the Epic, a variation of Samsung's Galaxy S, will be announced in the coming months, Sprint said Monday. The new addition will help Sprint use its WiMAX 4G network -- said to be 10 times faster than 3G -- to stay ahead of top carrier Verizon Wireless, which is currently testing its LTE 4G network.
But it also allows South Korea-based Samsung to boast of now offering the Android-based Galaxy on four top carriers. In addition to the Epic, Samsung will sell the Fascinate via Verizon, the Captivate via AT&T, and the Vibrant via T-Mobile.
Sprint's Steve Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale, said the Epic "joins a portfolio of powerful devices offering an unprecedented simplicity and value to our customers as the only national carrier with a 4G network and devices and applications that can leverage the increased data speeds to provide a high-def entertainment and business experience in the palm of your hand."
The company said the Epic will be the first and only 4G handset with access to the Samsung Media Hub, which offers movies and TV shows for purchase or rental. "With 4G from Sprint, users will be able to get turbocharged downloads of a full library of video and literary content powered by some of the biggest names in entertainment," Sprint promised.
Another Samsung service available for...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Hitachi Storage Update Aims To Cut Data-Center Costs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74078
Hitachi Data Systems is updating the capabilities for its Adaptable Modular Storage 2000 (AMS) line of products to increase storage density, configuration options, and protocol flexibility. The new features include SAS disks for high-density trays and an expanded capacity for rack mounting, enabling what the company called "extremely large capacities" -- up to a full petabyte on a single floor tile.
For the AMS 2100 and 2300, Hitachi is offering expanded host port options to allow for combined Fibre Channel and iSCSI ports on the same system, or to add more Fibre Channel host ports. The use of iSCSI and Fibre Channel multiprotocol solutions allows customers to protect their storage system investment, Hitachi said, while they might be evaluating a protocol switch.
The AMS 2000 family of products is a storage platform designed to provide what the company described as flexible, "cost-effective performance" through three models -- the 2100, 2300 and 2500, which differ in capacity, connectivity, performance and price. The company said the AMS 2500 can achieve better than 89,000 IOPS, a SPC-1 benchmark measurement from the Storage Performance Council.
In its announcement, Hitachi pointed to flexible solutions in which customers can start small and then expand the number of host ports as data-center needs grow. Mike Walkey, senior vice president of Hitachi's Global Channels and Solutions, said that, by allowing companies to start small, "this new solution gives our partners the ability to achieve energy efficiency without compromising the reliability, availability or security of their customers' IT infrastructure."
He added that the new capabilities continue to "empower channel partners to reduce their customer costs while increasing asset utilization" in the data center.
The options to increase utilization include a SAS disk option for a high-density expansion tray, and host port expansion slots for AMS 2100 and 2300 controllers....
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Rumor Has Google Challenging Facebook with Google Me
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74075
Are Facebook's privacy woes setting the stage for competitors to sweep in and gain market share? Could MySpace, Bebo or even Google come from behind and gain the social-networking lead?
Despite Facebook's dominance, other social networks are not shuttering their operations. Indeed, new competitors are sure to enter the market in the years ahead with their own twist on social networking.
The newest rumored entrant to social networking is none other than Google. Some observers are speculating that the web's 800-pound gorilla is getting more serious about social networking with a planned Facebook competitor called Google Me. Neither Facebook nor Google was immediately available to comment.
The hubbub started when Digg founder Kevin Rose sent a tweet reporting Google is getting ready to launch a social network called Google Me. Here's the content of his now famous tweet: "OK, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch Facebook competitor very soon 'Google Me,' very credible source."
Of course, Rose didn't name the source. The rumor comes shortly after Facebook announced its Open Graph search feature, which some have labeled a Google killer. It also comes just months after the launch of Google Buzz. And Google already owns Orkut, a social network that has gained significant traction in Brazil.
What does Google have up its sleeve? And should Facebook be worried? Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, doesn't think so. "This is total hyperbole," he said. "Google may be upgrading its profiles and Google continues to try and make its offerings more 'social.' However, there is no way that anything Google does is going to 'kill' Facebook."
Most analysts aren't giving much credibility to the Google Me notion. Some are suggesting that Google may be working to update its Google Profiles. A Google Profile is how people present themselves to...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
iPhone 4 Sales Top a Record 1.7 Million in Three Days
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74074
Apple said Monday that the company sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the United States, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom during the first three days following the handset's launch on June 24. Moreover, Apple announced that the iPhone 4 will launch in an additional 18 countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim before the end of next month.
"This is the most successful product launch in Apple's history," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply."
Apple previously had indicated that the company had sold 50 million iPhones since the first model's launch in 2007, which explains why financial analysts weren't surprised when Apple announced the 1.7 million figure. "We are not changing our estimates," said Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Murphy.
Piper Jaffray currently projects that Apple will sell 9.5 million iPhones in the current quarter and another 9.5 million in the next three-month period ending in September. "Our calendar year 2010 estimate is 39 million," Murphy said.
Gartner expects the new iPhone will help Apple maintain its already strong sales performance. "I do expect the rollout of the device to help maintain momentum," said Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi last week. "Some of the sales will be upgrades, but some will be new users, too."
The iPhone 4 should help Apple maintain its strong momentum in Europe when the iPhone 4 launches next month in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. According to IDC, Apple, Research In Motion, and HTC were the main contributors to a first-quarter surge in European smartphone sales.
"Last year's first quarter was the worst quarter ever for the mobile-phone industry in the region, which makes this year's growth less expressive," noted...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Amazon Adds Audio, Video To E-Books for Apple Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74073
Amazon wants some of the media fun that e-books on Apple's devices are having. On Sunday, the giant online retailer announced an update for Kindle on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that allows embedded video and audio clips in its e-books on those devices.
Amazon is currently offering 13 titles with audio or video. These include five travel books in the Rick Steves series, as well as other e-books with subject matter that benefits from media, such as Lullaby Book and a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A free Kindle reader application is available for Apple devices.
Bill Newlin, the publisher of Rick Steve's London, said the new Kindle edition with audio and video enables an "embedded walking tour" so customers can "listen to Rick as they explore the sites of London." He added that this media "adds depth to the reader's experience, while listeners can follow the routes more easily with the text."
Other titles with audio/video clips include Rose's Heavenly Cakes, which includes video tips on creating the perfect cake, and audio clips of bird songs and calls.
Those media components are intended for playing on non-Kindle hardware, highlighting a point made by Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, about the emphasis in Amazon's strategy. This announcement, he said, points to the fact that, for Amazon, "the Kindle Store is more important than the Kindle device itself."
Rubin noted that, "at some point, some e-readers will gain the capability to play back video and have other features," adding that it's likely that the Kindle device will be one of those. But, at present, Amazon's focus is on selling content.
Amazon is stepping up its responses to competition from Apple and the potential competition from Barnes &...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Enterprise Spending Fuels Economic Growth
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74041
U.S. companies are spending again, and that could mean better economic times ahead. Businesses have invested more money in machinery, computers, steel and other metals in three of the past four months. The uptick is fueling economic growth in the second quarter and may lead to more jobs later this year.
The rise in corporate spending comes at a critical time for the recovery. The unemployment rate has been stuck near double digits all year. And while the pace of layoffs slowed last week, the number of people seeking first-time jobless benefits remains about the same as in January.
Consumers are more cautious about spending, the housing market is slumping without home-buying tax credits and the European debt crisis has rattled investors.
But none of that seems to have dampened companies' outlook.
Corporate investment "is not only growing but accelerating, which is an encouraging sign that business remains in an expansive mindset," Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a note to clients.
Overall, orders for durable goods -- those expected to last three or more years -- fell 1.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. But that was largely the result of a drop in demand for commercial aircraft.
Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders rose 0.9 percent after falling in April.
Contributing to the strength was a 2.1 percent increase in business spending. In the first five months of the year, business orders for equipment and other capital goods are up 15.5 percent.
Companies are parting with more cash to replace outdated equipment and software and to make their workers more productive, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist at IHS Global Insight.
They are exporting heavily to developing economies in China, Brazil and India, Bethune said. In particular, they are shipping construction and mining machines and oil and gas equipment. Demand for...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Oracle's Earnings Jump After Sun Takeover
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74039
Oracle Corp.'s net income jumped 25 percent in the most recent quarter as CEO Larry Ellison trumpeted momentum in the company's efforts to sell computer hardware and in its showdown with IBM Corp.
The results, reported Thursday after the market closed, were helped by stronger sales of database and other business software and a bump from its acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
Sun, which makes computer servers, has been struggling with severe market-share declines, but cost cuts under Oracle appear to be turning the company around.
Oracle's numbers are important for what they say about companies' appetite for new technologies. Oracle's sales of new software licenses rose 14 percent to $3.14 billion, the third straight quarter of increases and a sign of sustained demand.
The quarter was also significant because it marked a turning point: It was Oracle's first full quarter with Sun Microsystems under its belt, which means Wall Street can look at Oracle's numbers and examine its progress in squeezing profits from Sun, an innovative company that was nearly sunk by its big expenses.
Oracle's net income was $2.36 billion, or 46 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended May 31. That compares with $1.89 billion, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Oracle's profit would have been 60 cents per share, better than the 54 cents per share Wall Street expected on that same basis.
Revenue jumped 39 percent to $9.51 billion, from $6.86 billion, matching the average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
The story underlying Oracle's numbers is the company's push into making computing hardware, a radical transformation for the world's No. 1 database maker and a top supplier of other types of business software.
Oracle paid $7.4 billion for Sun in a bid to build servers and software that work better together -- and mount a bigger...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Pakistan Cracks Down on Blasphemy on the Web
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74035
Pakistan will start monitoring seven major Web sites, including Google, Yahoo and Amazon, for sacrilegious content, while blocking 17 other, lesser-known sites it deems offensive to Muslims, an official said Friday.
The moves follow a temporary ban imposed on Facebook in May that drew both praise and condemnation in a country that has long struggled to figure out how strict a version of Islam it should follow.
Both the Facebook ban and the move announced Friday were in response to court orders. The sites to be monitored include Yahoo, Google, MSN, Hotmail, YouTube, Amazon and Bing, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran.
"If any particular link with offensive content appears on these Web sites, the (link) shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main Web site," Mehran said.
An example of one of the 17 sites being blocked include islamexposed.blogspot.com, Mehran said. That site features postings with headlines such as "Islam: The Ultimate Hypocrisy" and links to anti-Islam online petitions.
Mehran said that, under instructions from the Ministry of Information Technology, the authority had begun the process of barring and monitoring the various sites. Facebook was not part of the latest petition ruled upon by the judge, Mehran said.
Attempts to reach officials with several of the affected sites were not immediately successful Friday.
A top court ordered the ban on Facebook for about two weeks in May amid anger over a page that encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous. YouTube also was briefly blocked at the time.
The Facebook ban was lifted after the social-networking company blocked that particular page in Pakistan, but officials said at the time that the government would keep blocking some other, unspecified sites that contain "sacrilegious material."
The Facebook controversy sparked a handful of protests across Pakistan,...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Porn Sites Inch Closer to .xxx Web Address
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74034
The agency that controls Internet addresses said Friday it will consider adding the .xxx suffix for pornography to the list that people and companies can pick for their online identities.
The decision paves the way for final approval to launch .xxx as an online red light district, alongside suffixes such as .com and .org, in as soon as six months, finally ending a decade-long battle.
The agency, ICANN, had already rejected the application from U.S. company ICM Registry LLC, three times since 2000 -- partly under pressure from Christian groups and governments unhappy with the spread of online porn, ICM's chief executive, Stuart Lawley, said.
The agency's board said Friday that it had not treated the application fairly three years ago when it reversed an earlier decision recognizing .xxx, and promised to move swiftly with standard checks on Lawley's company.
The new suffix would not be required for pornographic sites, but backers say it will make it easy for Web blocking software to filter out ".xxx" sites, marking them clearly as porn.
"It will promote more labeled content," Lawley argued. "People who want to find it know where it is, and people who don't see it or want to keep it away from their kids can use mechanisms to do so."
But, skeptics say the new domain will likely change little, noting that most porn sites would likely keep their existing ".com" names, to allow their businesses to be found more easily.
Pornography is a huge business: The adult entertainment industry is worth some $13 billion a year, according to the California-based Adult Video News Media Network.
Lawley said he thinks the new address could easily attract at least 500,000 sites, making it -- after ".mobi" -- the second biggest sponsored top-level domain name. He expects to make $30 million a year in revenue by selling each .xxx...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Facebook Weighs Privacy vs. Profit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73895
As Facebook quickly closes in on 500 million members, it has become the Internet's water cooler.
The social-networking giant's vast customer base -- the equivalent of the world's third-biggest country, by population -- freely shares personal information, which has reset the way many communicate and how advertisers reach them.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting that there's almost no limit to what people will share and to how his company can benefit from it. "Our incentive is to give people the exact controls they want, so they can share the most information," he says. "More and more people want to share information. That is where the world is going."
But can too much information be too much of a good thing? Social-networking sites -- Facebook, in particular -- face heightened scrutiny over their privacy policies from consumers, privacy advocates and legislators.
Some lawmakers are readying legislation to regulate Web sites' tactics for collecting information about consumers, and the way that information is used to target ads.
Just last month, Facebook held a mea culpa press conference in which Zuckerberg apologized and the company overhauled its admittedly unwieldy privacy controls amid negative user feedback.
The moves quelled some concerns but did not appease privacy advocates, who see an inevitable conflict between Facebook's treasure trove of user data and the temptation to sell it to advertisers.
"Facebook is in the business of making money, not protecting privacy," says Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director for the ACLU of Northern California. "These latest changes became the right thing for Facebook to do because of mounting pressure from users and Washington."
Complicating matters, Zuckerberg finds himself at odds with a staff of 200 salespeople who wish to "monetize" the vast personal information of its users, says David Kirkpatrick, author of the new book The Facebook Effect.
"It's a very difficult juggling...
Tue, 29 Jun 10
Flock Browser Gets Faster and Friendlier With Upgrade
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73888
Flock, a Web browser focused on the online social scene, is trying to make it quicker and easier to keep tabs on your friends and family.
The upgrade scheduled to be released Wednesday is built on the same open-source coding that Google Inc. developed for its Chrome browser, which has attracted millions of users since its 2008 introduction largely because of its speedy Web navigation. Google also is becoming the default search engine within Flock's browser.
Flock previously had been relying on the same platform as the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, the second most used browser behind Microsoft Corp.'s long dominant Internet Explorer.
About 17 million people have downloaded the earlier versions of Flock during its five-year history, putting it far behind Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. Flock CEO Shawn Hardin is hoping the upgrade will propel the browser to 70 million downloads within the next year or so.
Besides loading Web sites more quickly, Flock's upgrade includes new tools that will enable users to reel in their online social circles and content feeds without having to hopscotch from one site to the next.
The feature, called "What Your Friends Are Saying," delivers search results culled from a user's personal networks at popular online hangouts such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. For instance, a search on "BP oil spill" or "smart phones" would highlight all the latest comments on those topics from a person's social networks.
The concept is similar to what Yahoo Inc. is trying to do on its Web site. Yahoo recently introduced an option that enables its users to import posts from Facebook and plans to usher in Twitter's short messages later this summer.
Hardin thinks the new Web browsers will appeal to millions of people who enjoy hobnobbing with their friends online, but are starting feel frustrated with how much time it takes...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
House Panel Wants Apple To Explain Privacy Change
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74052
Days after Apple changed its privacy policy and terms of service, the House of Representatives Bipartisan Privacy Caucus has a few questions for CEO Steve Jobs. Nine, to be precise.
In a June 24 letter to Jobs, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), co-chairs of the panel, called on Jobs to "explain in detail why Apple decided to begin collecting location data at this time and how it intends to use the data."
They also want to know which Apple products collect the data, who's sharing it, how it's being stored and protected, when it started, and a host of other things.
Their concern stems from news that the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer giant updated its disclosures to warn that "Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."
But Apple insists "This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services." Some applications, such as the MobileMe Find My iPhone feature, are useless without personal information, Apple notes in its updated privacy policy.
Markey and Barton note that "Given the limited ability of Apple users to opt out of the revised policy and still be able to take advantage of the features of their Apple products, we are concerned about the impact the collection of such data could have on the privacy of Apple's customers."
The onus is on Apple, they wrote, to show that it is in compliance with Section 222 of the Communications Act, which prohibits the sharing of consumer location information without explicit prior consent.
Apple didn't respond to our request for comment in time for publication.
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Salesforce Countersues Microsoft for Patent Infringement
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74051
Salesforce.com is targeting Microsoft in a patent-infringement suit. Salesforce's legal maneuver comes in response to the software giant's intellectual-property suit filed against the customer relationship management (CRM) vendor in May.
Salesforce filed suit against Microsoft on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Salesforce alleges that several Microsoft products, including the popular .NET platform and SharePoint collaboration software, trespass on its patents. In fact, Salesforce is asserting that Microsoft willfully infringed on its intellectual property.
"This is a normal defense until someone finds a compelling reason to come to the table and work it all out. You would think Microsoft would have the deeper patent portfolio because they've been around longer and have been doing this longer," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "Typically in a battle like this, the larger, longer-existing company and better-funded company wins. It's that kind of a fight."
Microsoft filed a patent-infringement action against Salesforce in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in May. Microsoft claims Salesforce's CRM product trespasses on nine of its patents.
The patents in question work to make CRM software more efficient. But by targeting Salesforce with the suit, it appears Microsoft is going for the jugular. CRM is at the heart of Salesforce's business model.
Microsoft is seeking a court order that would prohibit Salesforce from offering features in its software suite that infringe on its patents. If Microsoft succeeds, it could damage the core of Salesforce's business.
It's rare for Microsoft to file a patent-infringement suit. Microsoft has only filed four such suits in its history, though the company has been the defendant in scores of suits. It's possible that Microsoft feels threatened by Salesforce's software-as-a-service model. And it's clear that Salesforce feels threatened by Microsoft. Salesforce...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Google Chrome Browser Gets a Built-in Flash Player
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74050
Users of Google Chrome on Linux, Mac and Windows machines were automatically upgraded Thursday to a new browser version that addresses several security bugs and features a fully integrated Flash multimedia player for the first time. Google Vice President of Engineering Linus Upson believes browser users will benefit in several different ways from Chrome's integration of Adobe Systems' Flash technology for the web.
"When users download Chrome, they will also receive the latest version of Adobe Flash Player" as well as "automatically receive updates related to Flash Player using Google Chrome's auto-update mechanism," Upson wrote in a blog. "There will be no need to install Flash Player" or "manually download separate updates," which "reduces the security risk of using outdated versions."
Adobe's Flash Player 10.1 became available for desktops and notebooks on June 10. Among other things, the new version automatically shuts down content running in the player whenever the machine's available memory runs low, Adobe Senior Engineering Director Paul Betlem wrote in a blog. Additionally, Flash Player apps will use significantly less CPU resources whenever the content is idle, consuming less power.
With Google Chrome's integration of Adobe Flash, the two companies "have obviously done extra integration work here that other browser makers have not done," said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC. "So outside of Chrome, people will get the standard Flash 10.1 plug-in."
As an integral part of Chrome, Flash technology brings a lot of benefits, though realizing all of them fully may be a work in progress, Hilwa observed. "There is a potential reduction in complexity initially and potentially improved reliability and performance due to the combined testing and deeper integration," Hilwa said. "In the long run, this type of integration is the only way to coordinate what the browser and the plug-in...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
MS Sees Windows Phone 7 as an 'Ad-Serving Machine'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74049
Windows Phone 7 will launch in October, and will be designed, at least in part, as an "ad-serving machine." That's the word leaked from a video report now on YouTube, in which several Microsoft executives talk about upcoming plans.
In the video, General Manager for Strategy and Business Development Kostas Mallios emphasized that Phone 7 will be designed and able to serve ads and maintain a brand experience, with tiles near applications and a sliding box pushing ads and brand-related content to users. Basically, he said in the video, the Phone 7 platform "enables advertisers to connect with consumers over time" so companies will be able to continually send information and offers.
"What you'll see," Mallios said, "is there is actually a message on that tile, so that title is actually a dynamic tile that you're now able to push information to as an advertiser, and stay in touch with your customer." In addition, a small sliding box called "Toast" can notify the user that there's updated information or an ad relating to the app. The user can choose to opt out of the notifications, although it's not clear if the default state will be opt-in or opt-out. Toast appears to be Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPad, which serves ads on the iPhone.
Mallios noted that usually, when someone downloads an app from a company, "it actually takes you to an app store of some sort, and then you have to find your way through and so on." He added that Phone 7 is designed to "preserve the brand experience by going directly from the web site right to the application," using a secure certified connection that maintains the branding.
The video, shot at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival this week in France, also has the company's vice president for marketing, Mich...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Apple's iPhone 4 Reception Fix: Hold It the Right Way
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74047
As expected, the many sterling reviews of the latest iPhone's elegance are accompanied by a few complaints about hardware issues. With the iPhone 4, some consumers are complaining about poor reception. But other consumers on Apple's discussion forum say they can't replicate the issue.
Apple acknowledged possible reception issues with the way the iPhone 4 is held. The iPhone maker's solution: Hold the phone the right way.
"Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone," Apple said. "If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."
Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, has looked into the issue and says Apple has a valid point. In his experience reviewing hundreds of mobile devices, it's common for phones to have reception issues depending on how they are held.
"Some phones even come with warning stickers saying not to touch the phone in certain places or you are not going to be able to make calls," Gartenberg said. "That is one of the challenges of phones and antenna design."
Still, there are so many conflicting reports from consumers that it's difficult to determine the root of the problem, if there is a single cause. Although Apple has acknowledged the reception issue as valid as it relates to the way in which consumers hold the phone, Gartenberg said it's not clear whether the issue actually causes iPhone 4 users to drop a call or lose data. What's more, he added, holding the phone in...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Windows 7 Sales at 150M as Live Essentials Launch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74046
Sales of Windows 7, which Microsoft is calling "the fastest-selling operating system in history," have reached about 150 million licenses -- or about seven copies of Windows 7 sold every second. In announcing the milestone on the official Windows blog, Windows Communications Manager Brandon LeBlanc earlier this week said Microsoft's assessment is that, including companies that are either deploying or evaluating, about 75 percent of all enterprises are "looking at Windows 7 for their organization."
The sales momentum for Windows 7 appears to be accelerating. In early June, Microsoft noted that more than 100 million licenses had been sold in the first six months of the operating system's release, which was in October.
On Thursday, Microsoft released a beta of Windows Live Essentials, its set of free applications for sharing photos, movies and communication, which the software giant said enlarges the capabilities of Windows 7.
The applications are new versions of Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, the Write blog application, the folder-sync utility Sync, and Family Safety parental controls. The applications are set up for easy-to-use integration with other sites for photo and video sharing, social networking, blogging, Office Web Apps, and e-mail -- including Gmail and Yahoo mail as well as Microsoft's Hotmail.
"What the new Windows Live Essentials does is blends together the best of the PC," LeBlanc wrote, "with the best of the cloud."
Laura DiDio, an analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp. (ITIC), said Microsoft is trying to position Essentials as a competitor to Apple's popular iLife suite. In particular, Photo Gallery has been improved so that it is better positioned against iPhoto.
"It's a good strategy to meld the new Windows with Live," she said, adding that Windows 7's sales "are clearly picking up speed," and will continue to do so.
DiDio said...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Google's Android Gains on Apple iOS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74026
Google's Android mobile-operating system is winning over an important group of allies in its fledgling rivalry with Apple: application developers.
More than half the 2,733 developers surveyed by Appcelerator, a mobile-software tools provider, see Android as having the greatest long-term potential among operating systems. About 40 percent of respondents said Apple's iOS would have the best long-term outlook, according to the survey released today.
The study adds to evidence that Android is gaining ground against iOS, which will power the new iPhone 4. With some 60 Android-based devices and more than 60,000 apps available, the operating system is adding more than 100,000 users daily, according to Mountain View (Calif.)-based Google. Android will eclipse iOS as the world's second-most-popular mobile-operating system in 2012, researcher Gartner has said.
"Google and Apple are playing a chess game, and everyone else is playing catch-up," says Scott Schwarzhoff, vice-president of marketing at Appcelerator, also in Mountain View.
It's not just in phones that Android may challenge Apple and other smartphone software makers, including Microsoft, Research In Motion, Palm, and Symbian, the world's most popular mobile-operating system. Dozens of manufacturers such as Sony, Logitech International, and Toshiba are readying tablet computers, netbooks, set-top boxes, e-readers, and TVs that will run on Android. "Android is the only viable alternative to Apple right now," says Ken Dulaney, a vice-president at Gartner in San Jose.
Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino (Calif.)-based Apple, declined to comment.
The competition for connected electronics evokes the battle that played out between Apple and Microsoft in the 1980s and early `90s, when the personal computer operating system market was still up for grabs. "Now you get the Microsoft-Apple war in PCs on the mobile devices," says David Owens, vice-president of marketing at Sprint Nextel, the third-largest U.S. wireless provider, which has introduced three Android-based...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
eBay Buys Bar-Code Scanning Application
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74025
Online auctioneer eBay acquired RedLaser, a mobile application that will let customers scan bar codes to list items faster on its online auction site and to compare prices.
RedLaser and its imaging technology were developed by Occipital, a startup in Boulder, Colo., said Mark Carges, eBay's chief technology officer, in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.com. Neither company would comment on the acquisition's financial terms.
The most-visited U.S. e-commerce site, eBay plans to add bar-code scanning to help sellers on its site reduce the time it takes to list items. The feature is licensed in mobile apps offered by such retailers as Target, eBay said. Eventually the feature will be included in eBay's other apps so shoppers can scan an item and compare prices.
"Consumers are voting with their wallets and telling us what they want, and they want to shop with their phones," Carges said. "What better tool to use than a bar-code scanner to see what an item is going for?"
Goods sold through mobile applications will more than double, to $1.5 billion of EBay's revenue this year, from $600 million in 2009, the company said. Mobile commerce is estimated to reach $119 billion in sales by 2015, up from $18.3 billion in 2009, according to ABI Research of Oyster Bay, N.Y.
The acquisition of RedLaser is the second led by Carges, who became chief technology officer in 2008. EBay bought Positronic, a developer of predictive computer algorithms, in December 2008.
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Tablet Computers May Spell Doom for Netbooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74024
The unexpected popularity of netbook computers helped carry the PC industry through the recession, but industry analysts believe the scaled-down laptops will soon be overtaken by a wave of iPads and similar tablet devices.
Tablet computers will outsell netbooks in the United States by 2012, according to a report issued June 17 by Forrester Research, which also predicted that nearly one in four personal computers sold to U.S. consumers will be tablets by 2015.
The report echoes earlier projections from other leading research firms, which have suggested that sales are beginning to slow for netbooks, also known as mini-notebooks or mini-notes. Meanwhile, Apple has reported selling 2 million iPads in the first two months since the product was introduced.
Hewlett-Packard, Dell and other leading computer-makers are all rushing to introduce their own iPad-style tablets, which some in the industry refer to as "slate" computers. HP had planned to launch a Windows-based tablet this summer, but has recently emphasized plans to use software from Palm, the smartphone maker that HP is in the process of acquiring.
"It appears the momentum is shifting from mini-note PCs to slates," said a report issued this week by NPD Group. As more computer makers begin to introduce their own tablets in the coming months, the NPD report predicted consumers will increasingly turn away from netbooks.
Lower-priced netbooks, which have smaller screens and keyboards than traditional laptop computers, have been extremely popular since their introduction in 2008. The Gartner research firm reported more than 32 million netbooks were sold worldwide last year.
Analysts say the strong demand for netbooks helped major PC makers maintain their sales volume through the economic downturn -- when some customers shied away from buying higher-priced desktop and laptop models -- although some of the netbooks provided a lower profit margin than full-size models.
But netbooks generally offered less...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Review: Garminfone Does Double Duty, But Lacks Style
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74021
If you've been eyeing a personal navigation device but wish it could make calls and surf the Web, the Garminfone may sound appealing.
And in some ways, it is. The device from Garmin Ltd., a leading maker of navigational devices, does double duty as a Garmin GPS unit and a smart phone that runs Google Inc.'s Android operating software. Born out of a partnership with Taiwan-based Asustek Computer Inc., the Garminfone is good at navigating as well as checking e-mail and Web surfing.
Still, at $200 from T-Mobile after a rebate and with two-year contract, the price is steep considering that the device doesn't run one of the newest versions of Android -- software you can get on flashier phones for the same price. That means you'd miss some features such as the ability to dictate e-mails and instant messages.
From the Garminfone's bright, spacious touch screen -- 3.5 inches diagonally -- to its navigation-centric home screen, it's clear that the Garminfone wants to help you get around.
It comes with a car charger and dashboard mount to make it even easier to find your way; that's a plus compared with other phones running Android's free Navigation software. It also offers a slew of options for customizing voices and finding your way that are not found in Navigation. And like the Android version, Garmin's navigation service is free once you buy the phone.
The phone sports Garmin's Breeze user interface, which presents three big touch-screen "buttons" that let you make phone calls, get directions or check out a map.
You can slide your finger from right to left to see all the different applications on the phone. If you hold your finger down on the little home icon below the screen, you'll be able to flip through an additional five "screens" on which you can place...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Study: Cell Phone Towers Don't Boost Kids' Cancer Risk
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74000
Children whose mothers lived close to a mobile phone tower while pregnant did not appear to be at any higher risk of cancer than children whose mothers lived farther away, a new study finds.
British researchers analyzed 1,397 cancer cases in children up to age 4 from 1999 to 2001 in the United Kingdom. Using a national birth registry, they identified 5,588 similar children without cancer.
Next, they compared how far the children's mothers lived from a cell phone tower and the stations' signal strengths. No significant differences were seen between the two groups.
The study was paid for by an independent body set up to provide money for research into the health effects of mobile phones, funded by Britain's department of health and the mobile telecommunications industry. Paul Elliott, the study's lead author, was a member of the body's program management committee. The research was published online Wednesday in the medical journal, BMJ.
"It's reassuring," said Elliott, a professor of epidemiology and public health medicine at Imperial College in London. "On the basis of our results, people living near mobile phone stations shouldn't consider moving based on health reasons."
Since the study was done, many more mobile phone towers were built in Britain.
Exposure to radiofrequency from mobile phone towers is much lower than exposure from cell phones. Elliott and colleagues estimated that a day's exposure from a mobile phone tower equals about 30 minutes of cell phone use.
As cell phones have carpeted the globe and become essential to lifestyles from Africa to Asia to America, some have wondered if the devices might come with a hidden health cost. Last month, the results of a major study on cell phones and cancer were published and largely dismissed the connection between cell phones and cancer, though it could not definitively be ruled out.
Some experts said concerns...
Sat, 26 Jun 10
Survey: CEOs Plan To Hire, Spend More
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73999
The number of CEOs planning to ramp up hiring is at the highest level since mid-2007, according to a survey that suggests big U.S. companies are growing more confident about the economic recovery.
The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big U.S. companies, said Wednesday its survey shows 39 percent of chief executives expect to boost their payrolls in the second half of 2010. Only 17 percent say jobs will drop, while 43 percent expect no change in their current work force.
The proportion of those planning to hire is at the highest level since the second quarter of 2007, when it was at 42 percent.
During the recession that began in December 2007, companies slashed their payrolls to cut costs as revenue tumbled. About 8 million jobs were lost. The unemployment rate peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009, and was 9.7 percent in May.
Companies are adding jobs as sales recover. Software maker Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday that it was once again hiring. The company cut 9 percent of its work force last November, or 680 jobs. But in the three months through May, it added 190 positions as revenue rose 34 percent. The CFO said Adobe would continue to hire more people.
Despite renewed market fears of a hit to global growth because of economic trouble in Europe, 79 percent of CEOs say they expect sales to rise in the second half -- the highest amount since the second quarter of 2006. In the first quarter, 73 percent said they expected higher sales.
The survey suggested that CEOs were optimistic, but that they remained very cautious, said Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. and chairman of Business Roundtable. He said uncertainty over the global economy and expectations for new taxes and regulations were having a "dampening effect" on plans...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Google Remotely Wipes Two Android Security Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74032
Google said it remotely removed two apps from the handsets of Android users this week after determining that the developer of the free software programs had intentionally misrepresented their purpose to encourage downloads. However, Google said the free apps developed for security research did not pose security or privacy threats to Android users.
"They were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data -- or system resources" other than ready access to the Internet, wrote Android Security Lead Rich Cannings in a blog posted Wednesday.
According to Cannings, the developer had already voluntarily removed the two apps from the Android Market and most users uninstalled them after a brief trial. Still, Google decided to exercise its right under the Android Market's terms of service to remotely wipe the software from users' handsets. "If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone," he said.
Researchers at SMobile Systems warned earlier this week that the open nature of the Android Market -- which allows anyone to develop and publish an application for download -- could lead to consumers being defrauded for financial gain.
"Attackers are always trying to find new and inventive ways of harvesting large quantities of personal information," wrote Troy Vennon and David Stroop in the SMobile report. "An efficient means to this goal is by distributing a seemingly innocent" program that users install "without giving credence to the types of access they are providing the application."
However, Cannings noted that Android's remote-wipe capability is just "one of many security controls" that Google has at its disposal to help protect users from malicious apps.
"In case of an emergency, a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
FTC Requires Twitter To Set Up Data-Security Audits
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74031
Twitter will establish an independently audited information-security program as part of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to settle an inquiry into the social-networking giant's protection of user data.
The investigation was launched in early 2009 when the young company was hit by two security breaches that, it said, impacted only a small number of users. In January 2009, 45 accounts were hacked, with joke tweets posted from an outside source. One of the victims was CNN host Rick Sanchez, whose followers learned that he was supposedly "high on crack right now and may not be coming in to work."
Tweets supposedly from President Barack Obama and Fox News were also sent by the hackers. In April 2009, another 10 accounts were accessed, data compromised, and, according to Twitter, at least one user's password was reset.
The FTC announced Thursday that Twitter "has agreed to settle charges ... that it deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information." The agency said it was the 30th time it had targeted faulty data security, but the first such case against a social-networking service.
The hackers were able to gain control of Twitter via an automated password-guessing system because of security lapses, the FTC said.
"When a company promises consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that promise," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Likewise, a company that allows consumers to designate their information as private must use reasonable security to uphold such designations. Consumers who use social-networking sites may choose to share some information with others, but they still have a right to expect that their personal information will be kept private and secure."
On its blog on Thursday, Twitter, which noted that the incidents took...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Amid Raves, iPhone 4 Users Note Signal Drop, Discolor
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74030
Even as throngs lined up around the world to buy Apple's iPhone 4, reviews are coming in -- mostly positive, but some users reported problems. The most prominent issue is an apparent drop in signal strength when the device is held, which could be related to the fact that the iPhone 4's stainless-steel casing serves as the antenna.
Some users reported that holding the device causes the signal bars to fade into no signal at all.
In videos posted on YouTube, some users demonstrated that the signal falloff happens when the device is held by either hand, while others posted that it only happens when held with the left hand. Some have speculated that a user's hand acts as a conductor between the antenna section that provides mobile reception and the section that picks up Wi-Fi, thus bridging the two and sapping the signal strength.
Apple hasn't officially commented on this complaint, and details have yet to emerge as to whether other conditions impact the signal strength. But according to Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Apple is saying the signal-strength issue is not related to actually being able to make a call, but to how the signal bars are presented, and a fix is on its way.
But signal strength isn't the only complaint about this newest member of Apple's hit smartphone line. Some iPhone 4 users said a yellow coloration appears in the bottom-right corner of the display, or along the lower edge.
Some sites are suggesting that the yellow disappears after a day or so of use, and that it's because the devices, which are in heavy demand, are shipping so quickly that the display-glass adhesive is not completely dry.
However, these are also reports online that some users who have complained to Apple about the discoloration...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
SAS Enterprise GRC Aims To Automate Compliance
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74029
Governance. Risk. Compliance. These are areas of concern that touch all industries. Stakeholders demand to know more than how much revenue a company earned last quarter -- they want to know how it was generated.
With those demands in mind, SAS is rolling out an enterprise governance, risk and compliance (GRC) program to help companies stick to laws and regulations, as well as understand and manage risk exposures and share information with stakeholders.
Dubbed SAS Enterprise GRC, the platform works to let companies track risks based on trends in various operational systems. The goal is to identify emerging exposures more quickly, then manage them and make continual policy updates according to regulatory changes to yield an audited, consolidated risk profile.
Integration is the key word with SAS Enterprise GRC. The platform integrates business strategy with risk and compliance in hopes of driving better performance. The solution also promises better collaboration through a common framework and automates control management and monitoring to drive more transparency, consistency and efficiency.
Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, said the market is seeing more GRC solutions. SAS's twist is to set up an automated system for governance and compliance policies and then embedding GRC notations or organizational issues and policy issues.
"SAS Enterprise GRC automates the process of creating reports to alert administrators that are tracking policy issues to where the data lies, whether or not the information that should be in compliance is in compliance, and so on," King said. "What SAS is looking to do here is to create a set of tools that makes a very complex and tedious process that can be potentially expensive for a company much easier to manage through automation."
Cubillas Ding, research director in Celent's Securities and Investments Practice, said forward-thinking firms look to align upstream...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Crowds Line Up To Buy iPhone 4 Across the Globe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74028
In keeping with the reception afforded the iPad and earlier iPhones, Apple's iPhone 4 went on sale Thursday to waiting crowds. The launch began in Japan, where available inventory sold out by the afternoon in the Tokyo flagship store of SoftBank, the iPhone's exclusive carrier in that country. According to news reports, more than 300 people were lined up when sales opened.
The launch moved with the sun across the globe to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and then started selling at 7 a.m. local time in each U.S. time zone. In Paris, about 200 people were reported in line at the Apple Store in the Louvre complex. Some stores in Europe, such as France Telecom's store on the Champs Elysees, opened at midnight to begin sales. Hundreds of people were reported in line when Apple's Fifth Avenue store opened in New York.
A key question is how long supplies will last, given that 600,000 orders on the first day of pre-orders overwhelmed the online order system and caused a temporary suspension.
Some observers are predicting that Apple could sell as many as one million iPhone 4s on Thursday, with two million or more by the end of the fiscal quarter that ends Saturday, and as many as 10 million by the end of the next quarter in September. Apple didn't comment on inventory availability.
As with previous Apple launches, some determined buyers camped out the night before, although that often meant spending the night outside a mall. In Aventura, Fla., for instance, there were reports that about 120 people camped out in a parking lot near the mall containing the Apple Store.
The reasons cited by various buyers for wanting this particular iPhone included the higher-resolution screen, cameras on both sides that can permit video phone calls, multitasking, an updated operating...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
YouTube-Viacom Ruling Is a Victory for Web Providers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74027
Google has gained a victory in its long-standing $1 billion copyright battle with Viacom. A federal judge granted Google's motion for a summary judgment in Viacom's lawsuit involving YouTube.
The judge's ruling Wednesday means the court has decided YouTube is protected by the
safe-harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. This is in line with the established judicial consensus that online services are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help manage their rights online.
"This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other," said Kent Walker, vice president and general counsel at Google.
Despite the ruling, sentiments on the Viacom side were also positive. Michael Fricklas, Viacom's executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, said the company is disappointed with the ruling, but is confident about a victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
"YouTube and Google demonstrated that the tools to limit piracy aren't impossible to find or even that difficult to implement -- they fixed the problem of rampant piracy on YouTube after Viacom filed this lawsuit," Fricklas said. "Before that, however, YouTube and Google stole hundreds of thousands of video clips from artists and content creators, including Viacom, building a substantial business that was sold for billions of dollars. We believe that should not be allowed by law or common sense."
Fricklas went on to say that Viacom's case against YouTube has always been about whether intentional theft of copyrighted works is permitted under existing law. Viacom always knew the critical underlying issue would need to be addressed by courts at the appellate levels, Fricklas said, and the judge's decision accelerates the company's opportunity to do so....
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Google Privacy Probe Spreads to Britain
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74004
Britain has become the latest country to open an investigation into whether Google violated communication and privacy laws by mistakenly gathering data over public wi-fi networks.
London's Metropolitan Police said Tuesday it was looking into complaints that the search engine picked up people's online activities through unprotected home and business networks while photographing neighborhoods for its "Street View" mapping feature.
"The matter is now under consideration. It is yet to be determined what, if any, offenses may have allegedly occurred," police said in a statement.
It is the latest in a string of controversies about Google's access to private data including e-mail addresses, passwords, bank account information and web browsing histories. Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected data from public wi-fi networks in more than 30 countries.
The company sought to reassure critics that it did not misuse the data, telling the U.S. Congress that any personal information that it collected was "not used to identify any specific individual or household."
It had also said it stopped grabbing Wi-Fi data from its Street View vehicles since it discovered the data collection problem last month following an inquiry by German regulators.
Privacy International, a London-based privacy watchdog that filed the case with British police, said it had received complaints from members of the public who feared their personal data could be at risk.
"When Google was trawling around the world's streets on 'Street View,' they didn't tell people they were also picking up their wireless communications," said Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International. "We are pleased that the police have taken up this complaint for investigation."
Google U.K. did not immediately return an e-mail Tuesday seeking comment on the police probe.
The French independent privacy watchdog CNIL said last week that Google, following a complaint, had handed over copies of browsing history, banking details and other fragments...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Gourmet Brand Reborn as a Mobile App
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74003
Gourmet may be dead as a magazine, but the brand lives on.
Conde Nast, which closed the money-losing print magazine last fall, said Tuesday that it is launching a digital product called "Gourmet Live" for the iPad and other mobile gadgets.
It is another bet by Conde Nast on the world of apps -- the mobile software applications popularized by Apple Inc.'s iPhone. The publisher has invested heavily to bundle its magazines as applications on both the iPhone and now the iPad.
Robert Sauerberg, the head of Conde Nast's consumer marketing division, emphasized that Gourmet's app is not a digital magazine. But he said the impetus comes in part from the reception its magazines have gotten on mobile devices.
Wired magazine's first iPad edition sold more than 90,000 copies at the regular print newsstand price of $4.99 each -- an accomplishment considering that few publishers have been able to charge for their content online.
"What it has done is demonstrate to us and other publishers that paid digital content packaged in a beautiful form is valuable to consumers," Sauerberg said. "There's demand for the Gourmet brand, and I think we'll see plenty of people testing it out."
Gourmet, well respected among culinary aficionados, was the oldest food magazine in the country when Conde Nast decided to shut it down last October. Facing one of the worst advertising slumps in memory, Conde Nast decided to place its bets on Bon Appetit, a title with more of an affordable sensibility.
The new app, set to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, is aimed at least in part at winning back some of Gourmet's print readers; it had an average circulation of just under 1 million.
The Gourmet app will include articles, menus, photos and video. It will have a yet-undetermined number of "producers" feeding it content rather than...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Hacker Charged with Malware Extortion Plot
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74002
A hacker took over more than 100 computers and used them to extort sexually explicit videos from women and teenage girls by threatening to release their personal data, federal prosecutors charged Tuesday.
Luis Mijangos, 31, was arrested at his home by FBI agents and was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon on a charge of extortion that carries a maximum federal prison sentence of two years, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.
A telephone listing for Mijangos could not be immediately located.
The scheme was sophisticated, U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said.
"He did have technical proficiency," Mrozek said.
Some victims have been identified and most are believed to be in Southern California, but some could be elsewhere in the world, he said.
Federal investigators contend that Mijangos found victims on peer-to-peer networks, in which several computer users share files and communication pathways.
According to an affidavit, Mijangos sent out files disguised as popular songs that contained malicious computer code. The malware infected the victims' computers and was passed to their friends' and relatives' machines in the form of infected instant messages, authorities said.
"Once he had control of a computer, Mijangos searched for sexually explicit or intimate images and videos of women, typically young women and girls in various states of undress or engaged in sexual acts with their partners," according to the statement.
He also hacked e-mail accounts and, posing as some victims' boyfriends, asked them to make pornographic videos, authorities said.
Occasionally, Mijangos was able to remotely turn on some victims' webcams to catch them in "intimate situations," the U.S. attorney's statement said.
Prosecutors contend that Mijangos contacted some victims and threatened to distribute their sexually explicit videos to their computer contacts unless they made additional videos for him or if they went to the police.
He infected more than 100 computers that were used by...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
San Francisco Passes Cell Phone Emission Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74001
The city's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to the country's first law requiring cell phone retailers to post the amount of radiation emitted by the phones they sell.
The board voted 10-1 to approve the first-of-its-kind ordinance that requires stores to disclose each phone's specific absorption rate, or SAR.
The measure is backed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is expected to sign it within 10 days.
"From our perspective, this is a very reasonable and quite modest measure that will provide greater transparency and information to consumers for whom this is an area of interest or concern," said Newsom spokesman Tony Winnicker, who noted that the mayor is an iPhone user. "We're playing a role that we've often played, which is to be at the forefront of a debate."
But opponents say the city is perhaps too far ahead of the issue.
"We're disappointed that the Board of Supervisors chose to ignore the science in this case," said John Walls, a spokesman for industry trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association. He said the law was based on "unfounded concern" and "could very likely confuse and mislead consumers."
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd was the lone dissenter. He has cited the lack of certainty about the issue as a reason for his opposition.
Whether or not the radiation produced by cell phones causes cancer or other health problems is still a matter of debate among scientists. A major U.N. study released last month found no clear link between cell phones and the risk of developing brain cancer.
SAR measures the maximum amount of radiation absorbed by a person using a handset. The Federal Communications Commission limits SAR to an average of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body tissue, but information about radiation levels is not usually readily available when people purchase phones at stores.
The city's ordinance would require cell...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Review: Apple Makes All the Right Calls on iPhone 4
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73998
The iPhone has had an enormous impact in the three years since Apple's original smartphone exploded onto the scene. Its fancy touch-screen established that a physical keypad or keyboard were no longer de rigueur for cellphones. Its dazzling browser proved you don't have to compromise the way you experience the Web on a mobile device. And the App Store popularized third-party add-on programs on a handheld computer, to the tune of more than 225,000 apps and more than 5 billion downloads.
Even its most strident critics -- folks frustrated by AT&T's dropped calls, people who never cozied up to a multitouch display -- must concede that the iPhone is the smartphone by which others are measured.
The new iPhone 4 I've been testing for about a week and a half -- along with the major refresh of the mobile operating system software at the core of recent models -- demonstrates again why Apple's handset is the one to beat, even as it faces fierce competition from phones based on Google's Android platform, among others.
Apple announced the iPhone 4 at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month. After the customary hype that followed, iPhone 4 will hit stores Thursday morning, though some customers who have ordered the device will receive them earlier. Judging by 600,000 early orders, iPhone 4 is already a runaway hit.
Buyers won't be disappointed. The killer feature is what Apple calls FaceTime video chat. The promise that you and the person you're talking to on a phone can gaze into each other's eyes dates back to when LBJ occupied the White House. No one has really nailed video calling through the years the way Apple has nailed it here, with certain limitations. FaceTime is as simple as making a regular call. To help to accomplish this neat stunt, iPhone 4...
Fri, 25 Jun 10
Defense Firms Tapped To Fight Cyberterrorism
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73994
At Boeing Co.'s cyber operations center in St. Louis, a flashing, 54-inch computer screen warns of modern-day burglars and spies.
In an hour's time on a typical morning this spring, Boeing's elaborate detection system logged 3,722 suspicious efforts to gain access to the company's global computer network.
Boeing analysts worked swiftly with company cyber sleuths at other locations to secure the network and identify would-be intruders.
But tracking the hackers can be tough, even with their nine-digit Internet Protocol addresses flickering in vertical rows on the huge color monitor.
"The bad guys are really good at hiding their tracks," observed Kevin Nikkel, a Boeing security analyst.
They're persistent, too -- to an extent that most people can't fathom. At Boeing, the automated attacks don't stop, keeping teams of security analysts busy round the clock.
And that's just at Boeing.
The new head of the U.S. Cyber Command, Gen. Keith Alexander, revealed this month that Pentagon systems are attacked 250,000 times an hour, 6 million times a day. The attackers range from foreign intelligence agents to for-profit criminal enterprises to hackers trying to make mischief, security specialists say.
"In short, we face a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities," said Alexander, who also heads the National Security Agency.
As the federal government moves to address those vulnerabilities, defense contractors like Boeing are pushing aggressively to win lucrative contracts. Companies accustomed to selling weapons to the government also are bidding for work in secret military programs to develop offensive cyberwarfare tools.
Missourians are playing other key roles: Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., hopes to engineer major legislation soon that he believes is essential to protect against computer attacks.
Meanwhile, the University of Missouri is setting up a new Cybersecurity Institute that will sponsor seminars, scholarships and research. The government's urgent efforts to protect against cyber attacks is raising questions in academic circles...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Verizon Will Offer Video-Optimized Motorola Droid X
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74013
A new Droid is ready to be unleashed on the world. On Wednesday, Verizon Wireless announced it will offer Motorola's new Droid X, beginning July 15. The companies said the newest smartphone based on Google's growing Android operating system offers "ultra-high-speed web browsing," HD video, a one-gigahertz processor, the ability to provide a 3G hot spot for up to five Wi-Fi devices, "intuitive social messaging," and Adobe's upcoming Flash Player 10.1.
Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola, said the newest member of the emerging Droid line will appeal to enterprise users as well as consumers. There is support for Exchange and Gmail, filter widgets for separating work and home e-mail, live widgets for e-mail and calendar updates, corporate directory and global lookup, and a unified calendar that syncs with Google Calendar. IT departments will be interested in the security protocols that allow remote password control and wiping through Exchange.
The Droid X offers a 4.3-inch screen, a dual-flash eight-megapixel camera, an HD camcorder for 720p capture, and DLNA and HDMI connectivity for sharing or downloading HD. The handset comes with the newest Android 2.2 operating system, and Flash Player 10.1 will be available as an over-the-air update this summer.
In a press conference in New York where the Droid X was announced, Google CEO Eric Schmidt hailed the device as the beginning of a new category of smartphones optimized for video. To help take advantage of that optimization, the new phone features a Verizon deal with Blockbuster for buying or renting movies.
The first Droid was released nine months ago, and it's now the top-selling Android-based phone. Google's vice president of engineering, Andy Rubin, said 160,000 new Android-based devices are activated each day, adding that the Android Market now houses more than 65,000 applications. The number and quality of Android apps is...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
App Store Yields Just One Percent of Apple's Profit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74012
Apple is dominant in the app market, with an exponentially higher number of offerings than the competition. But that doesn't mean it's raking in the dough from all that inventory.
According to a new estimate by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, based on Apple CEO Steve Jobs' comments at the Worldwide Developers Conference two weeks ago, receipts from the App Store have amounted to about $428 million since its launch in July 2008, or just one percent of the computer giant's $33.7 billion gross profit.
Eighty-one percent of the App Store software is free, Munster said.
He calculated the figures based on Jobs' statement that $1 billion has been paid to developers. Apple gives 70 percent of its App Store income to developers and splits the difference with payment collectors. The average cost of an app has been placed between $1.49 and $1.99.
"Using a pricing scheme similar to iTunes, with 70 percent ($1.04) to the developer, 20 cents plus two percent of the ASP (23 cents) to the credit-card company, and one percent (two cents) per app for processing (storage & delivery), Apple's App Store gross margin on revenue from paid apps ($428 million since launch) is about 44 percent, or $189 million in gross profit," Munster explained in widely published excerpts from his research note. "This does not factor in the roughly $81 million Apple has spent since launch to store and deliver the four billion free apps that have been downloaded."
It's all part of a strategy similar to companies like ink-jet printer manufacturers, who create cheap hardware that drives the sale of expensive ink cartridges or other disposables. Only in Apple's case, it's reversed.
"Apple uses the App Store to drive hardware sales across its iOS device portfolio," said consumer-devices research specialist Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "Its goal is...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Apple's iPhone 4 and iOS 4 Face a Changing Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74011
When Apple released its updated iOS 4 software for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 this week, many industry observers responded positively to new features such as multitasking and handset compatibility with Bluetooth-enabled keyboards. However, developers and consumers alike will need to keep in mind that the new platform powering Apple's smartphones also has limitations, analysts said.
The "most disappointing" aspect of iOS 4 for developers and consumers is that it still lacks a Flash-compatible multimedia capability, noted Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC. And Apple's restrictions on apps not based on the company's software tools -- whether ported from Java, Flash, .NET or another programming language -- is a major disappointment for developers hoping to leverage their skills onto the growing iOS platform, Hilwa observed.
"It is also a bit scary in that it bodes poorly for an open Internet down the road," Hilwa said. Imagine the impact "when these devices rule the world with too many of them running" Apple CEO Steve Jobs' "vision of what the Internet should be."
Hilwa did single out iOS 4's multitasking capabilities for praise. "The improved multitasking -- especially with respect to location enablement -- will be the most noticeable improvement that pervades a whole bunch of apps and usage scenarios," Hilwa said.
According to iSuppli, Apple's iPhone is the most successful location-based services (LBS) platform so far with more than 6,000 LBS apps available. "Furthermore, the iPhone's dominance is primarily in the aftermarket downloadable navigation application market," noted iSuppli analyst Danny Kim.
On the other hand, multitasking enhancements -- including those for use with LBS -- will only run on Apple's iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. Moreover, handset users who upgrade to take advantage of these improvements will need to acquire new iOS 4-compatible apps.
Apple's...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Cisco 'Quad' Collaboration Software Focuses on Enterprises Results
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74009
Cisco Systems recently announced its Facebook-like collaboration platform. Cisco Quad aims at enterprises that want to boost productivity, stimulate innovation, and integrate distributed teams through secure social collaboration.
With Quad, Cisco distinguishes four forms of systems where people "live" at work: Content creation and documents, communicating, business transactions, and social systems like crowd sourcing, blogs, wikis and communities. Cisco is positioning its open social-media engine at the heart of these systems to integrate all four worlds.
Cisco's research shows social software for business is an $800 million market, but will grow to about $1.2 billion within a couple of years. There are also adjacent markets around enterprise social software, including content management, portals and search. Cisco predicts the unified communications market and the collaboration market will fuse. Quad is Cisco's early entrance into that market.
Murali Sitaram, vice president and general manager for Cisco's Enterprise Collaboration Platform, said companies with as few as 500 employees can benefit from Quad because almost every company is about creating products or services -- and that requires people with different skill sets coming together. That said, Sitaram does see value for specific organizations.
"If you're in human resources, you're focused on retaining talent or making sure that retiring talent doesn't take the knowledge with them, and the whole employee life cycle is important," Sitaram said. "If you are a customer-service organization, you're always focused on customer satisfaction and success, so you're going to organize in teams that are focused on customers."
Sitaram added that product-development groups are organized in terms of different functions, from product management to engineering and manufacturing to services. And finance is focused on delivering on a certain result, whether it's a monthly, quarterly or yearly close, or a budget exercise. All of these involve teams coming together to make decisions, he said,...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Bing Leapfrogs Google with Entertainment Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74007
While Google is working on an online music service that will reportedly debut later this year, Microsoft is getting out of the gate right now with new entertainment features. The new features include streaming music from its Bing search engine.
It seems the software giant smells an opportunity to help people use search to make entertainment decisions, and Microsoft wants to show off its "significant investment" in music, gaming, movies and TV.
The company is inviting consumers trying to decide what movie to buy or see, which TV shows to watch, what music to listen to, and how to find casual video games to use Bing Entertainment. Analysts are bullish on the new project, but it's easy enough for Google to replicate.
According to Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, the entertainment category will appeal to a lot of consumers -- and Bing has brought together a great deal of content and created a solid user experience.
"More broadly, Bing has improved the look and feel and search user experience overall. The inclusion of more content in search results as well as the enhanced navigation -- left column and tabs under the search box -- make Bing a more and more viable competitor to Google," Sterling said.
"Having said that, we're not going to see a mass exodus to Bing. But over time these changes and improvements start to have an impact," he said. "Even though Google has not seen its market share decrease, it clearly has been affected and made defensive moves because of Bing."
Microsoft research found that more than 70 percent of people look for song lyrics online, and Bing has added plenty of lyrics for searchers. Zune is also offering a single free play of all five million songs in its catalog, and...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Developers Favor Android Over Apple's iPhone OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74006
If the competition between Google's Android and Apple's iOS mobile platforms was a horse race, this could be the point when Android begins to really make its move. A new survey by mobile software tools provider Appcelerator found that more developers prefer Android than iOS for "its OS capabilities, platform openness, and long-term outlook."
The survey, taken last week from 2,733 respondents, said developers still favor Apple "for its App Store, market for consumer and business apps, devices and near-term outlook." Overall, 90 percent and 84 percent of those surveyed were "very interested" in developing for Apple's iPhone or iPad, respectively, while 81 percent and 62 percent were interested in Android phones and tablets.
Other operating-system platforms were 30 percentage points or more behind Apple and Google in the level of interest by developers. The second tier consists of BlackBerry at 34 percent and Windows Phone 7 at 27 percent. Symbian, Palm Pre/Pixi, MeeGo and Kindle comprise the third tier, with each of those in either low double or single digits.
Aside from the interest in competing mobile platforms, the survey's other key finding is the meteoric rise of developer interest in tablets, especially those based on the Apple and Google OSes. The interest in tablet application development, which has jumped since the iPad was launched in April, put the iPad in second place among favorite devices, behind the iPhone.
Developers are "rearranging their priorities to unlock the new potential that tablet computing holds," Appcelerator CEO Jeff Haynie said. He added that the development community is "experimenting" with tablets as point-of-sale terminals, TV or other hardware control devices, and university training tools.
The findings also indicate that large enterprises are more attuned to mobile technology than smaller ones. It found that, for organizations with more than 1,000 employees, interest among developers...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
California Mulls Digital License Plates with Ads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73980
As electronic highway billboards flashing neon advertisements become more prevalent, the next frontier in distracted driving is already approaching -- ad-blaring license plates.
The California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow the state to begin researching the use of electronic license plates for vehicles. The move is intended as a moneymaker for a state facing a $19 billion deficit.
The device would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen.
In emergencies, the plates could be used to broadcast Amber Alerts or traffic information.
The bill's author, Democratic Sen. Curren Price of Los Angeles, said California would be the first state to implement such technology if the state Department of Motor Vehicles ultimately recommends the widespread use of the plates. He said other states are exploring something similar.
Interested advertisers would contract directly with the DMV, thus opening a new revenue stream for the state, Price said.
"We're just trying to find creative ways of generating additional revenues," he said. "It's an exciting marriage of technology with need, and an opportunity to keep California in the forefront."
At least one company, San Francisco-based Smart Plate, is developing a digital electronic license plate but has not yet reached the production stage. The bill would authorize the DMV to work with Smart Plate or another company to explore the use and safety of electronic license plates.
The company's chief executive, M. Conrad Jordan, said he envisioned the license plates as not just another advertising venue, but as a way to display personalized messages -- broadcasting the driver's allegiance to a sports team or...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
E-Reader Price War Heats Up with Kindle and nook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73977
A price war is heating up in the electronic reader market, as Amazon cut the price of its Kindle e-reader below $200 Monday just after Barnes & Noble did the same with its competing Nook device.
The rapid-fire moves are fanning flames in the still-small but rapidly growing market that the book industry sees as a major part of its future.
On Monday afternoon, online retailer Amazon.com Inc. slashed the price of the Kindle by $70 to $189, just a few hours after bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. reduced the price of the Nook by $60 to $199 and said it would also start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access for $149.
Both the Kindle and the original Nook can wirelessly download books over high-speed data networks; the Nook also has Wi-Fi access.
Seattle-based Amazon has lowered the Kindle's price several times since the e-reader with a grayscale screen debuted in 2007 at $399. In October, the online retailer dropped the price to $259 from $299. Amazon also sells a larger-screen Kindle, the Kindle DX, for $489.
The Nook was released late last year for $259.
Both e-readers are creeping closer to the price of bookstore chain Borders Group Inc.'s new $149 Kobo e-reader, which will be available in July and work with Borders' online bookstore.
And the cuts mean the price gap between these products and Apple Inc.'s touchscreen iPad, which starts at $499, is getting ever wider. The popularity of the iPad, along with a number of other tablet computers soon to be available that offer many functions, have pressured e-reader makers to lower prices.
Michael Norris, a senior trade analyst at Simba Information, said the Nook's price cut indicates New York-based Barnes & Noble "is admitting that when they're up against a $500 digital photo frame on acid that does everything, they can no...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
E3 Shows Motion-Control Trend Is the Future
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73976
With a new 3-D gadget, motion controllers and a buffet of never-before-seen gaming goodness, last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo was a feast for the eyes -- and hands -- of 45,600 folks from the video game industry. Here are the trends that emerged from the 2010 show.
By the end of the year, every major console is slated to have some from of gesture recognition. The PlayStation Move system, which employs a wand-shaped controller and camera to precisely detect players' movements, will give the PlayStation 3 the ability to be more like Nintendo's Wii -- except with high-definition graphics and a more mature library of games.
Microsoft is further pushing (and bending, twisting and jumping over) the envelope with the Xbox 360's controller-free Kinect system. The gizmo detects gamers' bodies, including their skeletal systems, to do such things as teach choreography in "Dance Central," administer workouts in "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" and deploy adorable virtual pets in "Kinectimals."
The future is here, judging by the plethora of hereafter-set first-and-third-person shooters showcased at E3. "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Rage" took decidedly post-apocalyptic routes while "Red Faction: Armageddon" and "Dead Space 2" shot for interstellar territories. "Homefront," however, imagines a not-too-distant future in which North Korea invades the U.S.
Whatever the future may hold, apparently everyone will be invisible. "Crysis 2," "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" and "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" all featured the ability not to be seen in some fashion. In one of the show's most surprising moments, space combat was introduced for intergalactic prequel "Halo: Reach," which also includes invisibility.
Several beloved franchises were awakened from a deep slumber at E3. Sony's press conference reached a climax when a creepy ice cream truck driven by freaky clowns ominously drove onto the stage at the Shrine Auditorium to...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Intel and the FTC Near a Deal in Antitrust Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73972
Intel Corp. and the Federal Trade Commission are in talks to settle an antitrust case against the chip maker, a move that could make it more difficult for rival chip makers to pursue damages.
In December, the FTC filed charges against Intel, seeking to end what it described as decades of illegal sales tactics that have hampered competitors and kept prices for computer chips artificially high.
This week, the FTC and Intel agreed to suspend administrative trial proceedings as they work on hashing out a settlement.
A settlement would be at least a partial victory for Intel, said Robert Lande, director of the American Antitrust Institute at the University of Baltimore. If Intel loses in court, rival chip makers such as Nvidia Corp. would be able to pursue damages without having to again prove the antitrust charges. By contrast, settlements often come without any admission of wrongdoing.
"Once you've lost the case in federal court you can't deny the charges anymore," Lande said. "The only question is, `Did you hurt our clients and by how much.'"
Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a rival whose lobbying of regulators led to their charges, has quoted a manager from Toshiba Corp. comparing Intel's payments for not using AMD's chips to "cocaine." In its 2005 lawsuit, AMD also quoted an executive from Gateway complaining that Intel's threats of retaliation for working with AMD beat them "into guacamole."
AMD settled the lawsuit with Intel last year, with Intel agreeing to pay AMD $1.25 billion and the companies entering into new, five-year cross-licensing deal.
But the FTC later filed its own complaint. It has said it seeks to change Intel's behavior instead of fines, as the European Union and South Korea have imposed. Last year, Intel paid a record $1.45 billion fine to European regulators but the company is appealing.
The two sides have 30...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
iPhone 4 May Arrive a Day Early for Some Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73971
Not everybody has to wait in long lines Thursday to get their new iPhone.
E-mail notices began arriving for some Apple customers who ordered the iPhone 4 for home delivery that the phone might arrive Wednesday.
For those who choose to pick it up at a store instead, e-mails went out reminding customers to pick it up beginning Thursday morning. Reservations will be held until the end of the business day. Retailers RadioShack, Best Buy and AT&T -- Apple's exclusive U.S. carrier -- will also be selling the new iPhone.
Last week, Apple began to take orders for the phone and sold its entire first inventory of 600,000. Customers jammed Apple and AT&T Web sites and customer service phone lines. Online orders are now promised delivery by July 14.
Meanwhile, several features that will be highlighted on the new iPhone 4 began showing up Monday with the release of Apple's new iPhone operating system, iOS 4. As with last week's early order snafu, so many current iPhone owners tried to download the new program that many couldn't connect or faced very long download times.
To begin the process, plug your phone into your computer and open iTunes. Apple asks if it can "back up" your current iPhone before putting in the new software. On Monday, that was taking hours in some cases.
"Three of us at the office have tried several times but just couldn't get through," said Richard Doherty, an analyst for the Envisioneering Group.
Blogs and Twitter were abuzz with tales from iPhone owners trying unsuccessfully to connect, or being surprised at the length of the download.
Tech news site CNet said that one of its reporters completed the download in four hours and 29 minutes but that the connection broke twice.
In Vancouver, Canada, Web designer David Hathaway had it easier. He says he was able...
Thu, 24 Jun 10
Mac's Future: Death Rumors Greatly Exaggerated
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73969
Don't be fooled by the hoopla over the iPad. While Apple has dropped the word "computer" from its name and is swiftly using the iPad to build a market for tablets, the company isn't about to let the Macintosh languish.
I understand the temptation to think that the Mac's importance may be receding. In the first few months after I purchased my MacBook Pro last year, I rarely looked up from it. More recently, I'm using the iPad for many tasks I'd normally entrust to the Mac -- among them, downloading music and TV shows from iTunes and catching up on e-mail and news headlines.
Consider as well Steve Jobs's June 7 address at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. Jobs didn't mention the Mac once. That followed the disappearance of Apple's brilliant "I'm a Mac" TV ads from its Web site and the appearance of remarks in April from Justin Long, the actor who played the always cool-and-collected Mac, who said the campaign "might be done."
Apple earnings likewise show additional products coming to the fore. In the first half of fiscal 2010, the iPhone accounted for 38 percent of sales, vs. 28 percent for the Mac. In fiscal 2009, the iPhone made up only 30 percent of sales, compared with the Mac's 32 percent. "It's a totally different company than it used to be," says Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. "It's not a traditional computer company. It's a mobile devices company." In 2011 the Mac will make up only 27 percent of Apple's $69 billion in sales, Munster estimates.
Still, the Mac has great potential for growth. In 2005, market research firm IDC pegged Apple's share of the U.S. PC market at 4 percent. In the first quarter of this year, it was 6.4 percent. That may not sound like...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Analyst Expects Verizon To Offer a CDMA iPhone in 2011
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73992
It's one of the most burning questions in the wireless world, and it keeps getting more fuel: Will the fastest-growing smartphone team up with the largest U.S. wireless network? Verizon Wireless is keeping quiet about the latest speculation from a Barclay Capital financial analyst that it will offer Apple's iPhone early next year.
"We are not commenting on this," Verizon Wireless spokesperson Brenda Raney told us.
But with the iPhone 4 rolling out on Thursday and more than half a million pre-orders, it seems less likely that Apple will turn away the potential benefits of access to a second major network. Currently, AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier.
A ChangeWave survey of 4,040 wireless consumers in March found that about a third of current Verizon users were somewhat likely to buy an iPhone if it was available from their carrier, while 19 percent were very likely to do so. By comparison, only 11 percent each of Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile subscribers said they were very likely to buy an iPhone if available through their carriers.
Keeping quiet about pending changes is standard operating procedure, but there is plenty of fodder for speculators. Earlier this week Verizon Wireless CFO John Killian said the company is considering tiered data pricing because of an anticipated "data explosion," which some see as a hint about data-hungry, app-laden iPhones on the Verizon horizon.
In late March, The Wall Street Journal cited Verizon sources as saying an iPhone that runs on CDMA was likely. That would make it compatible with the network used by Verizon and Sprint.
Barclay analyst James Ratcliffe, in his widely published note citing research on component manufacturers, predicted nine million iPhones will be sold by the end of 2011. He lowered his profit estimate for Verizon Wireless because of expected subsidies for the iPhone.
Another...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Apple Estimates Rise as iPad Sales Top Three Million
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73991
Apple announced Monday that the company sold more than three million iPads in the first 80 days of product availability. Apple's trendy new tablet, which has been available for purchase in the United States since the end of March, became available for purchase in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom on May 28.
CEO Steve Jobs said Apple has been "working hard" to get iPads into the hands of even more people around the world, "including those in nine more countries next month." In response, analysts at Piper Jaffray said they believe the iPad is a long-term investable theme and a reason to buy shares of Apple.
"We also believe investors are underappreciating the global opportunity of the iPad as the 'Mac for the masses,'" Piper analysts Gene Munster, Michael Olson, and Andrew Murphy wrote in a report released Tuesday. "Given these strong results, we are raising our calendar year 2010 iPad unit estimate from 6.2 million to 7.5 million."
Apple's latest marketing success story isn't just about the hardware. Earlier this month, Jobs told attendees at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference that five million e-books were downloaded by iPad users in the first 65 days, which he estimated was equivalent to about 22 percent of all e-book sales.
Gartner Research Vice President Allen Weiner noted that this could be an indication that consumers are content with reading e-books on an LCD screen even though it's harder on the eyes than on dedicated e-paper devices such as the Kindle, nook and Sony Reader.
"The takeaway is that Apple is selling lots of e-books for the iPad," Weiner wrote in a blog. "This early in the e-reader evolution, perhaps consumers are willing to trade a less-optimal e-reading experience for the added bonus of video,...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Google Voice Service Is Now Open To Everyone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73990
After more than a year of invitation-only users for Google Voice, the search giant opened the service to anyone in the U.S. on Tuesday. About a million people currently use the service, but Google said it waited to offer open enrollment until it was confident it could support more traffic.
Google Voice organizes the many voice devices and services a modern user has into a single platform for communications management. With the service, a user can get a single, free phone number that rings in multiple locations -- such as a desk phone, a cell phone, or a home phone. Voice mail can be converted into text for reading, and a Voice console allows the user to make calls.
The preview, invitation-only phase of Voice began in March 2009, following Google's acquisition of a company called GrandCentral in July 2007. Google Voice is headed by GrandCentral's former CEO, Craig Walker.
In May, Google extended the invitation to students. "We've heard college students in particular really appreciate getting their voice mail sent to their e-mail, sending free text messages, and reading voice-mail transcriptions rather than listening to messages," the Voice team's Jason Toff posted at the time. He added that reading voice mail is "especially handy while in class."
Since the acquisition, a variety of new features have been added, including a mobile web app, an integrated voice-mail player in Gmail, and the ability to use Voice with an existing number. An existing mobile phone number can now be used, although some features won't be available. There are reports that Voice will also be integrated into Google Apps, and that the service will evolve into more of a competitor to Skype.
In the service, SMS text messages can be archived and searched, and will appear both in a registered...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Google Reportedly Planning Online Music Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73988
In another swat at Apple, Google is reportedly readying a music download service that could compete with iTunes (and Rhapsody and other digital music services). The Wall Street Journal is citing unnamed sources that reveal a Google-branded music play.
Yet unnamed, or even code-named -- or even publicly acknowledged, for that matter -- the Google service could debut later this year as a tie-in to its market-leading search engine. That would give Google widespread exposure for its rumored venture. Google would then, sources said, move to an online subscription service model in 2011.
"Google is doing this because it has relationships with music labels -- via Vevo -- and because 'it can,' but mainly because of Android," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "The music experience on Android handsets is far inferior to the iPhone and iTunes, and Google sees this as an opportunity to rectify a competitive weakness."
The Journal's sources didn't have information on whether Google has struck any deals with the major record labels. But, as Sterling pointed out, Google already has a relationship with Universal Music Group in the Vevo project.
UMG and Google announced the deal in April 2010 and Vevo launched last year as a video hub that aims to attract consumers, advertisers and content owners. It relies on YouTube's video technology to showcase Universal's catalog of artists and content. On YouTube, this content is exclusively available through Vevo.com and a new Vevo channel through a special Vevo-branded embedded player.
"Technology has allowed fans to discover music in endless ways while creating new business opportunities for artists and labels alike," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt when Vevo was first announced. "At Google, we are committed to promoting greater innovation and choice and are thrilled to be working with UMG in...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Salesforce Chatter Aids Collaboration in the Enterprise
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73984
Salesforce.com is encouraging enterprises to get chatty with the release of its Chatter cloud-based enterprise social-collaboration platform. Analysts said this could signal an impending wave of similar solutions in industries beyond Customer Relationship Management (CRM) because Chatter creates opportunities for developers to build and resell apps that include the platform.
Chatter leverages familiar social-networking features from Facebook and Twitter, including profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds. The platform lets enterprises collaborate around documents, but it also lets employees "follow" people, business processes, and application data. The goal is to boost business intelligence by driving real-time insights into programs, projects, people, customers, cases, documents and business data.
"Salesforce Chatter is nothing short of revolutionary for the enterprise," said Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group. "Salesforce Chatter creates an entirely new way to work for employees by opening up lines of communication and ad hoc coordination across every level of an organization. Enterprises can now realize new highs in productivity by harnessing the power of social collaboration."
Salesforce Chatter is a Cloud 2 application. Much like Web 2.0, Cloud 2 is the next generation of enterprise cloud computing, which is social, mobile and real time. Familiar Cloud 2 applications include Facebook, Google and Twitter. But Chatter is the first Cloud 2 collaboration application for the enterprise.
Farmers Insurance is one of about 100 beta testers for Chatter. The insurer has multiple stakeholders working on different aspects of its marketing strategies -- and Chatter fits the solutions bill, said Mitch Varhula, marketing consultant at Farmers.
"With Salesforce Chatter, the advertising department has increased collaboration across marketing initiatives and improved service levels to our internal customers of more than 14,000 agents," Varhula said. "What's been most amazing about Chatter is how it leverages a secure platform with a trusted sharing model to...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Flash Player 10.1 Released for Mobile Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73983
On Tuesday, Adobe Systems released Flash Player 10.1 for mobile devices -- but the rollout is going to take a while. The player is available first for devices running version 2.2 of Google's open-source Android operating system, but that upgrade is currently only available on Google's Nexus One smartphones being tested by reviewers.
However, other Android-based devices are expected to get the upgraded OS soon. At some point, Flash Player 10.1 will also be available for mobile devices based on non-Apple platforms -- BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Phone 7, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian. Apple has prohibited Flash on its mobile devices in a highly publicized dispute.
Based on Adobe's comments to news media, the migration to existing devices is expected to be in full swing by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, about the time new smartphones will appear with Flash Player 10.1 installed.
Adobe said the new player is the "first release that brings the full web" to mobile devices, allowing access to the games, animations, rich Internet applications, data presentations and visualizations, e-commerce, music, videos and audio that Flash offers on countless web sites and applications.
Flash Player 10.1 offers user-interaction methods more aligned with mobile devices, including multi-touch, gestures, soft keyboards, and support for accelerator-based input, which enables Flash content to be shown in landscape or portrait mode. Smart Zooming allows content to be scaled to full screen mode from within a web page.
Adobe also emphasized that it has optimized the player to efficiently use CPU capabilities and battery life, the two key components affecting performance on mobile devices. A new Smart Rendering feature makes sure Flash material is only running when it's visible on the screen, and Sleep Mode automatically slows the player when the device is in screen-saver mode.
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Wanted: Young Cyber Experts To Defend the Internet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73957
The federal government, education officials and giant military contractors are collaborating to recruit a new class of tech professional specifically trained to battle data thieves, online scammers and cyberspies.
The recruitment tool of choice: competitions that pit tech-savvy youths in mock warfare against professional hackers. This year, the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition drew teams from 83 colleges and universities, up from five schools in 2005. Boeing hired seven contestants to help defend its internal networks, which are prime targets for corporate and military spies.
"Our goal is to increase the opportunities for young cyberexperts to exercise and demonstrate their passion for this career field," says Alan Greenberg, Boeing's technical director of cyber and information solutions.
A similar contest that accepts high schoolers, the US Cyber Challenge, has a goal of finding 10,000 "cybersecurity top guns." Promotional materials tout bragging rights for beating bad guys. "We're building the pipeline that will produce our future cyberguardians," says Alan Paller, research director of SANS Institute, a co-sponsor of the event.
Meanwhile, community colleges and universities are expanding vocational training and academic degree programs. Enrollment in two-year programs participating in CyberWatch, a consortium of Mid-Atlantic colleges focused on cybersecurity training, has jumped about 66 percent in each of the past two years, says CyberWatch co-director Casey O'Brien. Students include recent high school grads, as well as adults seeking to change or advance their careers. "People are starting to get that the success of these programs is absolutely critical to the future of our country," says O'Brien.
Initiatives are even getting underway to boost awareness among grade schoolers. Two Maryland school districts, Baltimore County and Howard County, just launched a pilot program offering "information assurance" as a career track. Cybersecurity scenarios will be worked into the K-12 curriculum, says Davina Pruitt-Mentle, CyberWatch curriculum and outreach director.
One math exercise asks students...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Texting Teens? Adults Are the Real Culprits
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73953
Adults are more likely than teenagers to send or read text messages while driving a vehicle, a study by the Pew Research Center found.
About 47 percent of adults who use the text-messaging function on their cell phones said they have read or sent messages while driving. That compares with 34 percent of texting teens, ages 16 and 17.
"There's been a lot of focus on young drivers, and for good reasons," says Mary Madden, senior research specialist at Pew. "But this research provides an important reminder that adults are setting a bad example."
Seven states and the District of Columbia ban all cell-phone use by drivers, and 28 states prohibit texting while driving, according to a report by the Governors Highway Safety Assn. The U.S. Senate is to vote on legislation banning the practice.
The mobile-phone industry has taken its own steps to discourage use of wireless handsets while driving. In October, wireless trade group CTIA and the National Safety Council started a Web site, onroadoffphone.org, that encourages teen drivers not to text and drive.
CTIA this month also started distributing ads to 5,000 U.S. radio stations encouraging people not to use the phone while on the road. Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the largest U.S. wireless service providers, have ad campaigns aimed at discouraging texting and driving. "It's more than just teenagers, and the Pew study speaks to that," says John Walls, CTIA's vice-president for public affairs. "It's an activity that has no age boundaries. It's not surprising but disappointing that adults are texting while driving." Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group.
Focus groups have shown that many teens have seen their parents and older siblings send or read messages while piloting a vehicle, Madden says.
Pew's findings may change the way opponents of the practice approach...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Semi-Portable Powerhouses: Laptops That Replace PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73950
Laptops long ago usurped desktop PCs in terms of sales figures. Yet not all laptops are used on the go. Many are intended as a replacement for desktop computers.
Such notebooks often include powerful processors, beefy graphics and displays that measure 16 inches or more diagonally. They approach standard desktop PCs in terms of power and performance, says Christian Woelbert from Germany's c't magazine. "They have state-of-the-art processors, numerous ports and in many cases respectable graphics cards," Woelbert says.
The major benefit of a laptop-as-desktop-replacement is the mobility, explains J. Simon Leitner from the online magazine Notebookcheck. Because the devices weigh at least three kilograms, they are somewhat less portable than smaller laptops and netbooks, but when necessary, the owner can close the device and bring it wherever it needs to go.
"Within an apartment, the laptop then functions both as a multimedia station in the living room and as a workstation in the home office," Woelbert says. Another added plus: the laptop saves space compared with a traditional desktop PC.
An additional benefit over smaller laptops is the higher image resolution, explains Haris Musemic, product manager at hardware maker Asus. In addition, more ports are typically included to provide users with greater connectivity options. Better loudspeakers and integrated amplifiers also provide superior sound quality over smaller laptops.
Mid-range to high-end processors with three or four cores are typically used in these beefier notebooks as well. These are often comparable to processors from standard desktop PCs, Leitner explains. Four gigabytes of RAM are considered standard and the memory can be upgraded if free memory slots are available.
Buyers should look for a quick processor and powerful graphics card. Another necessary element for a genuine PC replacement is a generous number of ports, enough to allow for a mouse, printer and external hard drive to be plugged...
Wed, 23 Jun 10
Apple's Latest Safari Comes with Reader
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73949
Version 5 of Apple's Safari browser is now available online at www.apple.com/safari for Windows and Mac OS.
One of the major changes is the addition of Reader, designed to make Web sites more reader-friendly. Additionally, according to some sources, designers have made the browser 30 percent faster and included support for the new HTML 5 web standard.
The new Reader displays articles in a separate scrollable screen. Advertisements and other information on the Web site are excluded, meaning fewer distractions for the reader.
To get this special window, users have to click the Reader symbol in Safari 5's Smart Address field. The symbol then enhances the browser whenever it comes across a part of a Web site it identifies as an article.
Apple says the enhanced speed of its new browser should be obvious the first time anyone uses it to pull up a new Web site. Previously viewed Web sites should also be processed faster, thanks to improved methods for storing data.
Supporting HTML 5 should appeal to both programmers and users. It should allow embedded videos to play at full screen size and with subtitles while allowing developers to come up with their own expansions for the browser.
Tue, 22 Jun 10
iPhone's Video Chat Won't Cost Minutes -- Yet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73963
You make a quick call to a friend to see if he or she's available. Then switch to FaceTime and talk for hours, face to face. The total impact on your AT&T bill: One minute of 3G connection time.
That's what iPhone 4 users, enabled by the smartphone's brand-new front-facing camera, can expect beginning this week if they take advantage of Apple's new video-chat software. In big news for those without an unlimited plan who tend to stretch their minutes, the computer giant announced this week that FaceTime works off a Wi-Fi connection and won't incur any airtime charges for either user.
Although the connections will be initiated by voice calls, the clock won't be running once the users switch to FaceTime -- although another call might have to be placed if the connection is interrupted -- Apple spokespersons have said in published reports. Both callers must be using an iPhone 4 with FaceTime.
If the sweet deal sounds too good to be true, it just might be. Because Apple reportedly plans to make the next version of FaceTime a 3G application, users could see time used up on their plan as it catches on.
"You know there were fees somewhere along the way," said Kirk Parsons, wireless analyst at JD Power and Associates.
Market-building freebies have plenty of precedent in the consumer tech world, Parsons said. "Wireless/mobile examples that immediately come to mind include XM and Sirius free trial periods when buying service or with the purchase of a new car," he noted. "GM On-Star did the same thing with their over-the-air service offering."
FaceTime was unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month as part of the iPhone 4 rollout. In demonstrating the product, Jobs described it as inspired by the science-fiction communication seen on Star...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Multi-State Panel To Probe Google's Street View Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73962
Already under investigation by countries in Europe and elsewhere, Google now finds itself the subject of a U.S.-based government probe. On Monday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he would head up a multi-state team to look into the search giant's collection of data from its Street View vehicles.
Blumenthal said more than 30 states participated in a recent conference about the investigation. The company also faces a possible formal investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has said it is looking into the matter.
Blumenthal described Google's collection of data as a "deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy." He added that "Street View cannot mean Complete View -- invading home and business computer networks and vacuuming up personal information and communications."
Blumenthal said consumers have a right and a need to know if personal information, including e-mails, web browsing, and passwords, has been collected, how it was collected, and why. The investigation, he said, will consider if laws have been broken and whether new statues may be necessary.
It also will address such issues as whether personal data was ever extracted from the mass-captured stream, how the software code became part of the Street View program, why Google saved the unauthorized information, and if there have been other instances of unauthorized capture of consumer data.
He is also seeking information on Connecticut towns and cities where data may have been collected, what steps the company is doing to prohibit this kind of activity in the future, how and when Google learned about the capturing of private data, and "why Google Street View cars recorded the signal strength and quality of personal and business wireless networks."
At least seven class-action lawsuits have been filed or are being planned in the U.S., in which plaintiffs contend that Google violated federal...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Dell Reportedly Exploring Chrome OS for Laptops
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73961
Score one for Google Chrome, at least potentially. Dell is reportedly in talks with Google about using the forthcoming Chrome operating system on its laptops. A Reuters report cites Amit Midha, Dell's president for Greater China and South Asia, in an article that suggests Chrome may land on Dell machines.
"We have to have a point of view on the industry and technology direction two years, three years down the road, so we continuously work with Google on this," Midha told Reuters. "There are going to be unique innovations coming up in the marketplace in two, three years, with a new form of computing; we want to be on that forefront ... So with Chrome or Android or anything like that, we want to be one of the leaders."
Google plans to roll out its Chrome operating system later this year in another bid against Microsoft. Speculation is building around the Chrome OS, with some seeing a netbook war with Microsoft, and others calling it a wash before it even debuts.
Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, said the mobile market, which includes everything from smartphones to tablets, is still new.
"The smartphone market is relatively mature at this point, although it's still growing and developing. But the landscape for tablets and other devices is wide open at this point," King said. "Chrome hasn't gotten much traction, but I could imagine Chrome could be a very viable and potentially powerfully OS for tablets that are 90-plus percent web-focused or web-enabled and made to do most of their interactions with the browser."
The Chrome OS is an open-source lightweight operating system initially targeted at netbooks. It will run on both x86 and ARM chips, and Google is working with hardware manufacturers, including Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Free iPhone iOS 4 Update Offers Limited Multitasking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73960
Apple unleashed a free iOS 4 software update Monday for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G that contains 100 new features, although not all the enhancements are compatible with all devices. Among other things, Apple is promoting the new multitasking capabilities built into iOS 4, which will enable mobile users to run multiple third-party apps and switch between them on the fly without slowing the performance of the app in the foreground.
But the new multitasking capability only works on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, and only when running apps designed specifically for iOS 4, analysts noted.
"Multitasking for iPhone is more limited than in other platforms, but allows for some of the key requirements that users have without impacting the battery as much," said Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi. "Other improvements that users will appreciate are iBooks and iAd support for apps that will grant a better experience as well as help keep prices low."
Apple held a 15.4 percent share of the global smartphone market at the end of March -- up nearly five percentage points from the same time last year, according to Gartner. Moreover, Apple and AT&T, its U.S. carrier partner, received pre-orders for more than 600,000 iPhone 4s on June 15. Although the unanticipated avalanche caused widespread ordering-system malfunctions, Apple said it was the largest number of pre-orders it has ever taken in a single day.
With the release of the iPhone 4, which is specifically designed to run iOS 4, Apple is well positioned to continue market gains, Milanesi noted. "I do expect the rollout of the device to help maintain momentum," Milanesi said. "Some of the sales will be upgrades, but some will be new users, too."
In addition to multitasking, iOS4 enables up to 2,160 apps to...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Barnes & Noble Offers Wi-Fi nook, Lowers 3G Price
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73959
Lest you think that Apple's iPad has totally frozen the evolution of e-book readers, Barnes & Noble has announced a Wi-Fi version of its nook -- and lowered the price of the 3G version. The Wi-Fi model will list for $149, and the 3G's price drops to $199 from its original price of $259.
The company said the new price for the 3G unit is "the market's first under-$200 dedicated full-feature e-book reader that offers both free 3G wireless and Wi-Fi connectivity." The new Wi-Fi-only nook resembles the 3G in features, except it weighs about half an ounce less.
Also new for Barnes & Noble's e-readers is its latest 1.4 software update for the devices, which includes free use of AT&T's nationwide Wi-Fi network, available in thousands of restaurants, hotels and other locations. The update also includes a new "extra extra large" font size and a Go-To Page feature in which users can immediately jump to a specific page.
Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bookseller, is still trying to overcome the nook's widely panned launch.
At the time of the launch, David Pogue wrote in The New York Times that "every one of the nook's vaunted distinctions come fraught with buzz-kill footnotes." Barnes & Noble touted its two screens, one for navigation and one for reading, but Pogue said the small color touchscreen feels "disconnected" from the larger black-and-white screen above, the touchscreen is "balky and non-responsive," and it took almost three seconds to turn a page.
He also pointed out that his test device locked up twice and crashed twice. In short, he wrote, the nook is "a mess."
With each software update and new model release, the company is trying to correct the bugs and turn the focus to its strengths. One strength is leveraging its 723...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Dell Inspiron R Offers Distinctive Shape for Consumers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73958
Dell on Monday rolled out new Inspiron R laptops that aim to help families stay connected, entertained and productive. Dell is playing up the photo- and video-sharing capabilities of the new laptops, positioning the line as a mobile entertainment hub complete with surround sound and a built-in webcam.
One of the reasons Dell is emphasizing photos is because the Windows world handles photos better than the Apple world, according to Roger Kay, principal at Endpoint Technologies Associates. As he sees it, Dell stands to gain from the Windows 7 experience in digital media.
"Apple likes to claim dominance in media. But if you look at the way Apple's photo library is organized and the way the different programs interact with each other and the ability to get photos in and out of the system, it's actually pretty clunky," Kay said. "So when you are in a Windows 7 environment, you want to talk about the photo capabilities. Dell wants to push that message."
Dell also wants to push its design. The company spent a lot of time talking about the Inspiron R's "curvy edges, smooth lines, and chrome accents." Kay said Dell is working to create a distinctive identity for its consumer line of laptops. That's also evident in the color schemes. Dell sells the new machines in Mars Black, Peacock Blue, Tomato Red, and Lotus Pink.
"Dell now offers particular curves. That, along with the way the finish elements are put together, means you can recognize a Dell laptop even if you can't see the logo," Kay said. "Dell is working on trying to build the product ID into something interesting. These new machines are a notch more distinctive for the company."
That's a significant twist for Dell, Kay said, because the company didn't have much of a consumer business 10 years...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Bye, Bye Bebo: AOL Unloads Social-Networking Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73935
AOL Inc. is paring its ambitions in online social networking, selling a Web site called Bebo that it bought a little more than two years ago for $850 million when AOL was still part of Time Warner Inc.
Bebo, which launched in 2005, has failed to match the huge popularity of sites like Facebook and Twitter.
It has been strong in foreign markets, though, including Britain. AOL tried to take advantage of that to drive traffic to its other ad-supported Web properties, but the site has been losing ground. Worldwide, it had about 12.6 million users in April, less than half of the 26.9 million it had in the same month a year ago, according to comScore Inc.
In the U.S., Bebo was down to 4.9 million from 10.2 million a year earlier. In the same period, Facebook has grown to 121.8 million users in the U.S. from 67.5 million.
AOL said in April it planned to shut Bebo or sell it. The company said Wednesday that the buyer is the private investment firm Criterion Capital Partners LLC.
The California firm did not say how much it is paying, but analysts have speculated that the site would fetch just a small fraction of what AOL paid for it.
Gartner Inc. analyst Ray Valdes said AOL probably got at least $10 million for Bebo.
"They're probably donating the puppy to the shelter, so to speak. Anything less than $10 million and it's really almost not worth the transaction costs," he said.
In a note AOL CEO Tim Armstrong sent to employees Thursday, he said the deal provides a "meaningful" tax deduction for AOL.
AOL said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to log a tax benefit of $275 million to $325 million in the April-June quarter. The company also said that it will assess...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Coalition Aims To Fight Cybercriminals
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73934
In a major step to slow cybercrime, Microsoft on Thursday launched a coalition that will serve as a clearinghouse for reports about caches of stolen data stashed all across the Internet.
Malicious programs crafted to swipe your financial and personal data have come to saturate the Internet -- so much so that security researchers routinely ferret out computer servers used by cybercrooks to hoard stolen data. Until now, there was no specific process for reporting such discoveries.
The Internet Fraud Alert center -- spearheaded by Microsoft and managed by the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA) -- will serve as a reporting hub. Stolen payment card numbers and online banking account logons will be routed to the issuing banks. The institutions will then decide whether to alert customers, suspend the accounts or pursue legal remedies.
Stolen Social Security numbers, birthdates and other personal data will be archived offline by the NCFTA and made available, as needed, to law enforcement.
"This fills a big gap in the arsenal of weapons we need to fight online fraud," says Nancy Anderson, Microsoft's deputy general counsel.
The stakes are high. Phishing scams, just one method of cyberthievery, revolve around tricking Web users into divulging sensitive data. Last year, phishing gangs duped 1 million U.S. households into losses of some $650 million, according to Anti-Phishing Working Group, a consortium of banks, retailers, Internet host providers, tech-security companies and law enforcement agencies.
Data thieves routinely access compromised PCs they have set up as storage servers. They typically store small caches of stolen data on one server, then move on to the next, says James Brooks, product-management director at security firm Cyveillance. Stashing data in this way helps thieves stay ahead of anti-virus filters.
One such server recently discovered by Cyveillance contained 6,000 logons to active accounts in six social networks and 1,200 logons...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Behind the Huge Demand for Apple's New iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73932
A new gadget from Apple is typically cause for a sales jolt, but demand for the latest redesign of the company's popular iPhone has been off the charts. AT&T, the smartphone's U.S. carrier, suspended sales of the device on June 16 after more than 600,000 early orders strained company computers. Some calls to Apple's service line weren't answered because of heavy volume.
What accounts for such demand? Performance upgrades and a sleeker look, analysts say. The thinner, square-edged, flat-back design is the first cosmetic overhaul for the three-year-old smartphone. While speedier, the iPhone 4 will sport a 5-megapixel camera, videoconferencing capability, and an outerbody antenna that should improve call reliability -- a common complaint among current iPhone customers.
"The phone is sleeker and thinner," says Adam Leach, principle analyst for Ovum, a London-based technology research firm. "The current model is starting to look a bit old."
With 50 million iPhone users, many orders are coming from fans who want to upgrade, says Charles Wolf, senior analyst for Needham & Co. He expects a large percentage of the iPhone 4's initial sales to be upgrades. As the phone expands into overseas markets, he says, Apple will see more first-time buyers. AT&T, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, also boosted sales by allowing any iPhone customer eligible for an upgrade in 2010 to buy the new phone at the lowest price -- $199 for the 16GB model or $299 for the 32GB. That will lock iPhone customers into two-year contracts this summer, just as many analysts and others expect that Verizon Wireless will eventually become a carrier for the Apple device. "It's a smart move for AT&T," Wolf says.
In a June 17 report, Morgan Stanley predicted that the number of iPhone users may surpass 100 million in 2011. "We see the iPhone installed base...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
How Priceline Fought Its Way to Success
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73930
Not so very long ago, Priceline.com found itself unceremoniously grouped into the pantheon of dot-bombdom. In 2001, a mere four years after its founding, everything was falling apart at the quirky travel discounter. A foray into name-your-own-price groceries and gasoline had gone expensively awry, burning through cash at a time when Wall Street was in no mood to provide new funding. Alongside the Pets.com sock puppet and day traders forced to move back in with Mom and Dad, Priceline's wacky television commercials, featuring actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame, became caricatures that defined a moment when even the goofiest idea seemed like a financial juggernaut. The company's stock collapsed from a split-adjusted high of $974 in April 1999 to less than $7 in October 2002; to get the share price up, management had to seek a reverse 1-for-6 split.
Beam yourself to 2010, however, and Priceline is in clover. The stock has jumped 27 times from its low, to $185; $10,000 invested in Priceline in March 2005 would have been worth more than $101,000 exactly five years later. Shatner's spots not only are still running, they're so ubiquitous that he says people recognize him more often as Priceline's melodramatic pitchman, the "Negotiator," than as the iconic Captain Kirk. The Norwalk [Conn.]-based outfit is No. 1 on the Bloomberg Businessweek 50 -- our list of the 50 best-performing stocks on the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Alongside eBay and Amazon.com, Priceline, now sporting a market valuation of $8.8 billion, is one of the few old-time dot-com darlings thriving into the 2010s.
Few would have predicted Priceline's success when the September 11 terrorist attacks upended the entire travel industry and threw the company's very existence into doubt. The unlikely comeback owes largely to Jeffery H. Boyd, a lawyer who joined Priceline as general...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Web Forums Offer Answers, User to User
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73928
The web is a treasure trove of useful information created by people just like you. And contrary to popular opinion, not all of that information is on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and the other big social networking sites. In fact, those large, general-purpose sites are fairly useless when it comes to finding answers to questions you might have on specialized topics, such as computers, digital photography, audio visual equipment, notebooks, and web-based bargains, to name just a few. That's where the thriving world of web forums comes in.
While not as easy to find as the Twitters of the web world, user-to-user forums provide an invaluable medium through which like-minded individuals the world over can share their enthusiasm and expertise about topics that interest them. Virtually all forums today are free, easy to use, and chock full of people who can expand your knowledge and your horizons. All you need to do is show up and start participating.
What's wrong with your computer? What's the best processor to buy? Are glossy screens better than matte? Who makes a better notebook -- Dell or Toshiba?
Search Google for answers to such questions, and you'll likely come up with a very long list of links that may or may not help. Visit one of the major tech forums to ask the question yourself, and you'll probably get dozens of targeted answers quickly.
But which tech forums stand out? Tech Support Guy (http://forums.techguy.org) has over half a million members and over 7 million posts -- or topics -- that have been covered. The regular volunteers here offer advice on everything from common software applications to do-it-yourself computer system builds.
Other tech forums worthy of consideration include Computer Hope (http://www.computerhope.com/forum), Tech Support Forum (http://www.techsupportforum.com), and, for more technical advice on individual components, Computer Forum (http://www.computerforum.com).
Notebook owners will definitely want to...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Twitter a Hit in Japan as Millions 'Mumble'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73926
Twitter is a hit in Japan, succeeding where other social networking imports like Facebook have foundered as millions "mumble" -- the translation of tweet -- and give mini-blogging a distinctly Japanese flavor.
The arrival of the Japanese language Twitter service in 2008 tapped into a greater sense of individuality in Japan, especially among younger people less accepting of the understatement and conformity their culture is usually associated with, analysts say.
A mobile version of Twitter started last October, further fueling the Twitter boom in a nation where Internet-connecting cell phones have been the rule for years.
These days, seminars teaching the tricks of the tweet, as the micro-blog postings are known, are popping up. Ending Japanese sentences with "nah-woo" -- an adaptation of "now" in English -- is hip, showing off the speaker's versatility in pseudo-English Twitter-speak.
A TV show features characters that tweet. A Tokyo bar has screens showing tweets along with World Cup games. And pop idols, a former prime minister and plain regular people are all tweeting like crazy.
The proportion of Japanese Internet users who tweet is 16.3 percent and now surpasses the ratio among Americans at 9.8 percent. Twitter and Japan's top social networking site, mixi, have been running neck-and-neck with monthly visitors between 9 million and 10 million but in April Twitter squeaked past mixi, according to ratings agency Nielsen Online.
In contrast, only 3 percent of Japanese Internet users are on Facebook compared with 62 percent in the U.S., according to Nielsen. MySpace has also failed to take off in Japan, at under 3 percent of Net users versus 35 percent in the U.S., according to comScore Inc.
Twitter estimates Japanese write nearly 8 million tweets a day, or about 12 percent of the global total. Data from Tweet Sentiments, a web site that analyzes tweets, show Japanese are...
Tue, 22 Jun 10
Cisco Targets Small Businesses with Smart Storage
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73833
Cisco Systems recently introduced a new family of desktop network storage devices to provide small-business customers with a fully integrated and highly secure method for storing and sharing critical business data. The new NSS 300 Series of smart storage offerings is designed specifically for businesses with fewer than 100 employees, the company said.
What small businesses need is an affordable, easy-to-use technology for driving productivity and growth, noted Ian Pennell, cochair of the small business council at Cisco.
"To help small businesses effectively manage the explosion of electronic information, we've built an innovative new family of storage solutions," Pennell said. "The addition of these new devices further emphasizes Cisco's commitment to providing small businesses with affordable, easy-to-use technology they require to optimize productivity and drive growth."
Approximately 40 percent of the firms surveyed by IDC before the end of last year said they expected their IT storage budgets to increase in 2010 in the key areas of virtualization, business continuity, and disaster recovery. This signals that consolidation and ongoing business operations have become key business imperatives, IDC said.
Small businesses, in particular, have a lot of business-critical data and are now recognizing the importance of storage, noted Cisco Vice President David Tucker. "They're looking for a strategy to better organize and manage their storage needs," Tucker said.
Cisco has seen small-business demand for storage solutions accelerate in the last two years, Tucker observed. "They want a storage solution that provides security, encryption, speed and flexibility," Tucker said.
More than 50 percent of small businesses expect their storage needs to increase in the next 12 months, noted IDC Vice President Ray Boggs. "And about a third of those expecting growth identify expanding storage capacity or improving storage management as one their top IT priorities," Boggs said.
Priced between $913 and $5,625, Cisco's...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Display Shortage Limits iPhone 4 Output, Analyst Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73942
More than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4s were sold on the first day of pre-orders earlier this week. The volume was so great that AT&T had to suspend its online sales and Apple had to delay ship dates. Now an analyst reports the company is having difficulty getting enough touchscreens to meet demand.
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar issued a research note on Friday in which he said the shortage means Apple has had to cut by 50 percent the number of iPhones it can deliver monthly from the original estimate of four million. Kumar said his report is based on information from Apple's supplier, LG Display Company, which he said is hoping to get up to the needed capacity by late summer.
Kumar noted that a similar shortage affected early shipments of the iPad, whose screens LG also makes. Both devices use a Retina display, which features a very high density of 78-micrometer-wide pixels, resulting in four times more pixels in a given area. IPS, or in-plane switching, technology in the displays enable a wider viewing angle than on regular LCDs, and the contrast ratio is four times that of previous models.
The launch of the iPad outside the U.S. was delayed by a month because of an inventory shortage. At the same time that there is too much demand and too little supply of the iPhone 4, there appears to be lessening demand for the previous model, the iPhone 3GS.
The iPhone 4 is scheduled to go on sale in stores on June 24, and the pre-orders started June 15. In-person pre-orders are being accepted at brick-and-mortar Apple and AT&T stores, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and some Wal-Marts.
"It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day," Apple said, adding that it...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Broadband Providers Oppose FCC Reclassification
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73941
Broadband providers responded negatively to the release of a Federal Communications Commission Notice of Inquiry Thursday that seeks comments on a new legal framework for governing broadband access. The goal is to correct a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals that cast doubt on whether the FCC has authority to regulate broadband as it is currently classified.
Among other things, the FCC is considering whether to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, which would give the commission the regulatory authority it needs to fully implement its national broadband plan. However, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi called the proposal "troubling and, in many respects, unsettling."
Cicconi believes the proposal will create investment uncertainty at a time when certainty is most needed, damage jobs in a period of far-too-high unemployment, and even undermine the FCC's own goals. "AT&T continues to feel congressional action is far preferable, and far less risky to jobs and investment," Cicconi wrote in a blog.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said he fully supports a congressional effort to update the Communications Act in a way that would establish a broadband framework that promotes investment and innovation, fosters competition, and empowers consumers. In view of the appeals court decision, however, he said the FCC has an obligation to move forward with an open, constructive public-comment inquiry. "The congressional and FCC processes are complementary," Genachowski said.
He also observed that the FCC's proposals include a "third way" that would avoid the extremes of either forcing service providers to conform with the FCC's legacy phone regulations or eliminate FCC oversight of broadband.
"It's not hard to understand why companies subject to an agency's oversight would prefer no oversight at all if they had the chance," Genachowski said. "But a system of checks and balances in the communications sector...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Verizon Considering Tiered Pricing for LTE 4G Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73940
As it gears up for its next-generation network, the nation's top carrier, Verizon Wireless, is mulling a tiered pricing plan based on data usage, a top executive said in a published interview. The company's chief financial officer, John Killian, told Business Week that as more smartphones access the Internet via Verizon's network, "We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate."
But Killian was evidently referring only to users of the Long Term Evolution network that Verizon expects to bring online by the end of the year, with new phones accessing it in mid-2011.
Verizon spokesperson Brenda Rainey told us that Killian's comments pertained to the 4G network and will not affect 3G users in the foreseeable future. "We plan on supporting 3G for at least a decade," Rainey said.
Verizon Wireless is a partnership between Verizon Communications and Vodafone.
A tiered pricing plan would put the company on a par with AT&T, which eliminated unlimited data plans last month, just ahead of the release of Apple's iPhone 4 and almost coinciding with the introduction of the iPad. AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier for both.
AT&T now charges smartphone users $15 for a basic data plan of 200 megabytes, with a $15 fee for each additional 200 megabytes. Another plan, for $25, allows two gigabytes of data with a $10 charge for each additional gigabyte.
With faster, hungrier phones emerging by the handful, analysts say it's only a matter of time before the so-called "all you can eat" data plans go the way of dial-up Internet access.
"We have been advocating this strategy for a while," said Carolina Milanesi, vice president of mobile-devices research at Gartner. "As smartphones move down into mass-market price points, carriers cannot assume that smartphone users will all be...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Supreme Court Backs Audit of Employee Text Messages
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73939
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a California police department did not violate the constitutional right to privacy when it audited text messages on a pager the city issued to an employee. City of Ontario v. Quon was an early case that may have implications for the Fourth Amendment Rights of public employees in the digital age.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the court must proceed with care when considering the concept of privacy expectations in communications made on electronic equipment owned by a government employer.
"Cell-phone and text-message communications are so pervasive that some persons may consider them to be essential means or necessary instruments for self-expression, even self-identification," Kennedy wrote in the court's opinion. "On the other hand, the ubiquity of those devices has made them generally affordable, so one could counter that employees who need cell phones or similar devices for personal matters can purchase and pay for their own."
At issue was the use of text pagers issued to officers by the city police department. When Sgt. Jeff Quon consistently went over the allowed limit on messages, his supervisors obtained stored text messages from the service provider and found that many were personal, not work-related. Quon claimed the search violated the Fourth Amendment, but the court did not agree.
According to Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, what is significant about the court's opinion is what did not happen.
"Faced with an opportunity to curtail workplace privacy -- or electronic privacy generally -- the court noted, applying a 1987 precedent, that government employees generally retain their Fourth Amendment privacy rights, and it assumed that government employees may have a reasonable expectation of privacy even in communications they send during work hours on employer-issued devices," Dempsey...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Microsoft Readies Windows Embedded Handheld
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73938
On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled plans to launch a mobile software platform called Windows Embedded Handheld. The new platform would become the third mobile operating system in the Microsoft portfolio.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the Windows Embedded Handheld platform focuses on "extending Windows and the benefits of cloud computing to the world of specialized devices." He outlined Microsoft's commitment to the future of enterprise handheld devices at the New York launch event for the Motorola ES400, an enterprise digital assistant.
"These releases will provide proven management and security functionality, while giving customers confidence that investments in handheld enterprise devices and line-of-business applications will be protected over time by an extended support life cycle," Ballmer said.
Microsoft pointed to an endless future for enterprise handheld devices. VDC Research estimates there were 2.3 million device shipments in 2009 and predicts this number to exceed 4.3 million by 2014. The existing Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile platforms accounted for 87 percent of these 2009 shipments.
Windows Embedded Handheld will focus on line-of-business (LOB) scenarios and work to boost productivity of the mobile enterprise workforce by making way for users to capture, access and act on business-critical information where and when they need it. But Michael Disabato, managing vice president for the network and telecom group at Gartner, is skeptical.
"Any operating system that claims to make businesses more productive will get me to fall on the floor laughing. Operating systems don't make businesses productive, people do," Disabato said. "I've been on the toys-to-tools kick since the mid-90s. When you look at the iPad, you can make a tool out of it. You can also make a tool out of the iPhone and probably a RIM device. You can do that with Microsoft, too, except that Microsoft is so far behind everyone else."
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Facebook Refuses Changes Urged by Privacy Groups
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73937
Following a flurry of protests in the last few months about its privacy policies, Facebook had hoped its efforts to give users better control of personal information had tamped down the problem. But a group of privacy organizations has now sent an open letter to the popular social network, saying more changes are needed -- and Facebook is saying no.
The group's letter, sent to CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, said it was "glad to see that Facebook has taken steps in the past weeks to address some of its outstanding privacy problems." It asked for additional steps, including empowering users to decide exactly which apps can access their information, making "instant personalization" opt-in by default, giving users control over "every piece of information they share" on Facebook, and using the secure HTTPS protocol for "all interactions by default."
Instant personalization gives Facebook's partner web sites access to user information as soon as a logged-in user visits the partner site, before any consent is given. The coalition wants this function turned off by default.
The organizations signing the letter are the ACLU of Northern California, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Watchdog, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy Activism, Privacy Lives, and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
Other actions the group urged on Facebook include providing users with simple tools for exporting their content and personal details on Facebook so that, if they want to leave the site for another social-networking site, they do not have to choose between accepting Facebook's privacy standards and retaining connections with friends.
In response, Facebook said it's interested in "constructive dialog" with consumer groups, but it largely rejected the requests. It pointed to simplified privacy controls that it recently implemented, and noted that the only information that...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Businesses Confront the Cloud Security Threat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73914
As chief information officer of the 1,800-bed Orlando Health System, Rick Schooler needs to house 180 terabytes of medical images. That's more than three times the print holdings of the Library of Congress. "Within three years we'll be at 300 terabytes or more," Schooler says.
That's a costly challenge. Storage gear isn't cheap and has to be kept cool by expensive air-conditioning. To keep expenses in check, Schooler has begun turning over online backup storage to Internet security provider Symantec. He says the pilot program may help him slash his storage budget -- currently at "hundreds of thousands of dollars" -- by 20 percent to 25 percent.
Orlando joins a growing number of businesses embracing what's known as cloud computing, where tasks such as storage and database management are handled off-site and delivered via the Internet by companies including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Google.
Cloud computing is gaining wider acceptance: Sales of cloud-based applications are growing five times faster than those of traditional applications, according to Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray. "The cloud is as profound an impact on what technology will look like in 20 years as the PC," says Walter C. Price, Managing Director at RCM Capital Management, which owns 583,000 shares of Salesforce.com and 1.1 million shares of SuccessFactors according to Bloomberg Data. Both companies specialize in selling hosted software-as-service applications.
Even so, many companies remain skittish about entrusting important tasks to third parties. "It's a very attractive model, but there will be challenges," Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd said in a speech in Orlando in October. "It's unlikely we'd put anything outside the firewall that's material in nature that we couldn't 100 percent secure."
In a recent survey of small business owners conducted for Bloomberg Businessweek.com by the professional social networking site LinkedIn, three-fourths of the...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Review: New $699 Mac Mini Is Crisp and Capable
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73913
The smallest sibling of the Mac family just graduated. Little brother has some new smarts and a sharp new suit.
I'm talking about the Mac mini, and the "sharp" part is literal: this tiny desktop computer now has an elegant aluminum case with edges so defined they can scrape your skin off.
Apple Inc. released a new mini on Tuesday, and it's the biggest redesign of the product since it was launched in 2005. It adds some much-needed features and a less-than-necessary, but very appealing, design flourish.
So why would you get a Mac mini? It doesn't have the horsepower of the full-sized Mac Pro desktop, or the portability of the MacBook.
Well, for one thing, it's still the cheapest way to get access to Mac software. If you want to do video editing or graphic design, the Mac rules. The new mini starts at $699, up from $599 for the previous model. That's without a keyboard, mouse or monitor, but it's still a pretty good value.
It could also be a "home base" computer, acting as a backup and file server for the household's laptops. The basic model now comes with a 320 gigabyte hard drive, enough for most purposes and twice the size of the old basic model.
Third, the mini is a great option if you want to connect your living-room TV to the Internet and your collection of movies, music and photos. A few months ago, I looked at several PCs for this role, and concluded that the Mac mini of the time was great, except that it lacked an SD card slot and an HDMI jack for easy connection to the TV and/or receiver, and that the power button was in the wrong place.
The new model addresses two of those three concerns. It has an SD slot, which makes it much...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
At E3, It's Time To Party Like It's 2005
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73912
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's boisterous annual convention, literally launched with a circus this week.
Microsoft fancied to unveil Kinect, the name of its new Xbox 360 motion-control system, with a lavishly bizarre invite-only Cirque du Soilel performance Sunday night that required attendees to don white satin ponchos.
Not to be outdone, "Call of Duty" and "Guitar Hero" publisher Activision hosted an epic three-hour concert on Monday night at Staples Center, featuring performances by Usher, Eminem, Deadmau5, Jane's Addiction, N.E.R.D. and a bikini-clad dancer who straddled a pole over 20 feet (6 meters) in the air. The game maker also picked up the tab for all drinks and snacks.
Microsoft and Activision aren't the only party animals at E3 this week. Despite a recession that has marked a surprising decline in revenue for the robust gaming industry, publishers and developers are reaching deep into their coffers to host indulgent E3 parties, dinners and concerts in hopes of garnering hype in the increasingly crowded marketplace.
"It's quite difficult," said party planner Jason Subia, who has been producing E3 events for nine years. "These kinds of events are mostly attended by people in the industry and the media who have really seen everything and done everything, so you constantly have to come up with new ways and new ideas to grab their attention and get your message across."
Subia said an E3 event can range from $10,000 for a simple cocktail party to $1 million and higher for a star-studded concert. The most monstrous party Subia produced this year was Capcom's bewitching "Dead Rising 2" bash on Monday, which featured undead dancers, table games and a performance by Swedish new wave band The Sounds.
"Entertainment-wise, while the level of sheer ostentation doesn't approach that of the industry in its more youthful, hedonistic venture capital-driven days, it's...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Music Publishers Slap LimeWire with Lawsuit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73911
On the heels of a major court win by the recording companies against file-sharing software company LimeWire, eight major music publishers said they filed their own suit on Wednesday.
The publishers are seeking relief and damages from LimeWire for facilitating copyright infringement.
Publishers are paid royalties for songwriters, while recording companies work with the artists who perform the songs. Several of the publishers, including EMI Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music Inc., are owned by the parents of the recording companies that won.
National Music Publishers' Association CEO David Israelite said songwriters and publishers were hurt as well as performers by LimeWire, which provides software that allows users to swap songs over the Internet for free.
"The pervasive online infringement facilitated by LimeWire and others like them has consequences for everyone in the music chain," Israelite said in a statement.
Last month, a U.S. District judge in New York ruled that LimeWire and its chairman, Mark Gorton, were liable for inducing copyright infringement. The case began in 2006.
The recording companies have yet to reach a deal that could settle the case before penalties are determined. But for each song that was downloaded with a willful intent to infringe on copyrights, the court could award $150,000.
Last week, the recording companies sought a preliminary injunction to freeze Gorton's assets, alleging that he had attempted to shield LimeWire assets and its proceeds from the courts.
A LimeWire spokeswoman said in a statement that the company was attempting to relaunch itself as a legitimate music service with a business model "that will compensate the entire industry."
"Publishers are absolutely a part of that solution, and we're hopeful that this action will serve as a catalyst to help us get to there," she said.
Sat, 19 Jun 10
Report Criticizes U.S. Network Security Abilities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73910
The federal agency in charge of securing the U.S. government's computer systems is unable to monitor the networks or analyze threats in real time, and it lacks the authority and staff it needs to do its job, according to an internal report.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team must share information about threats and trends more quickly and in greater detail with other federal departments so they can better protect themselves, the audit said.
Issued Wednesday by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, the report lays out criticism that long has been aired by U.S. officials and outside experts who say the government's computer systems are vulnerable to attacks, are persistently probed, and lack the needed management and security standards.
And it highlights many of the problems Congress is trying to address in a number of bills aimed at creating a more effective government structure to improve and enforce security standards.
Cyber security has become a top priority for the government, bolstered by President Barack Obama's declaration last year that it is "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face." Officials say U.S. networks are scanned and probed millions of times a day, and in some cases breached by hackers, cyber criminals and other nations.
The 35-page report said the Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which is a part of DHS, has made progress helping federal agencies protect against computer-based threats, including the creation of a cyber center. But it said the team does not have the enforcement authority it needs to get other federal agencies to take the steps required to secure their systems.
In a detailed response to the report, DHS Undersecretary Rand Beers noted that the inspector general did not make a recommendation on how the agency could gain more enforcement authority. But he said the agency agrees that giving...
Sat, 19 Jun 10
France Joins Google Wi-Fi Controversy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73906
France has become the latest country to hold Google to account over a privacy breach that saw the search engine giant mistakenly gather and store data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries.
The French independent privacy watchdog CNIL said Thursday that following its complaint, Google had handed over copies of the e-mails, browsing history, banking details and other fragments of data sucked up by Google technicians cruising French streets photographing neighborhoods for the Web site's "Street View" mapping feature.
A spokesman for the Mountain View, California-based company said Google has been handing over data to authorities in the affected countries for the past two weeks.
CNIL said it is still examining the data that it received from Google on June 4. The organization may yet seek financial or criminal penalties over the privacy breach, the organization's head Yann Padova said at a news conference.
Padova said it remains unknown how many individuals and how many cities had their private data collected by Google.
Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries.
Google says it has stopped grabbing Wi-Fi data from its Street View vehicles since it discovered the data collection problem last month following an inquiry by German regulators.
Police in Germany and Australia already have launched their own investigations into the matter.
German authorities have not received all data they were hoping for from Google, said Arne Gerhards, spokesman of the Hamburg Data Securities Authority which is in charge of the Street View case in Germany.
While the authority was able to test one of the Street View vehicles it has not had access to a specific harddrive it needs to look at, Gerhards said. The authority hopes to get access to it within the next two weeks.
German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner is planning...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Android-iPhone Clash Shaping Up Amid Pre-Order Flood
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73924
With a small army of Android phones headed to the market from Motorola, LG Electronics, and Sony, the stage is set for a major showdown between the two fastest-growing smartphone platforms as Apple brings the iPhone 4 to market. But the challenges seen by AT&T, Apple's exclusive U.S. carrier, and Apple in taking advance orders for the iPhone 4 could give the competition a boost.
Those rivals include Motorola's Droid X -- launching one day before the iPhone 4 -- with its 4.4-inch screen and the Droid Shadow with a 4.3-inch screen. Like Sprint's HTC EVO, these upstarts are showing defiant bulk as the iPhone gets slimmer. The Droids are packed with goodies like slide-out keyboards -- still absent from the iPhone -- fast processors and sharp cameras, and, perhaps, Android's latest multitasking operating system, version 2.2.
According to several reports, LG will release up to 20 new Android devices, while Sony Ericsson is readying the Xperia 8 for battle.
But the iPhone 4 is no slouch either, with its 960-by-640-pixel screen with Retina display, a gyroscope, and dual cameras for video conferencing. A leak of the prototype in April and AT&T's decision to allow early upgrades to iPhone 3GS customers have fueled a landslide of pre-orders.
The carrier said there were 13 million upgrade inquiries on its web site and it had to suspend pre-orders on Wednesday, when a new system designed for fraud protection reportedly went haywire amid the chaos.
Apple, too, said it was overwhelmed, announcing on its site that the computer giant and its partners had taken 600,000 pre-orders, the largest ever in a single day. That forced Apple to push back the order-fulfillment target date from July 2 to July 14.
"Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration, " Apple said. "We apologize...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
AT&T Will Offer Samsung Captivate with HSPA Speeds
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73923
AT&T and Samsung have taken the wraps off a new Android-powered smartphone featuring advanced entertainment, messaging and social networking. Based on Samsung's forthcoming Galaxy S smartphone design class, the new Samsung Captivate unveiled Thursday integrates High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology capable of breezing through data at speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps.
When the Captivate goes on sale in the months ahead, the new 3G smartphone will sport a four-inch touchscreen, a one-gigahertz processor, and 16GB of memory expandable to 32GB, according to Samsung Mobile Chief Strategy Officer Omar Khan. "With the launch of the Captivate, AT&T customers will experience a groundbreaking handset with world-class features that are unique to Samsung's Galaxy S class of devices," Khan said.
The Samsung Captivate integrates tri-band 3G, quad-band GSM, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 3.0 radios; a five-megapixel camera with autofocus that doubles as an HD video camcorder; a 3-D graphics engine; and a surround-sound stereo system. Moreover, a six-axis sensor enables the handset to deliver a fluid gaming experience when users tilt it up or down or pan to the left or right.
The device's active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display helps to preserve handset battery life because it doesn't require a backlight. Even better, movies, videos and games can be viewed in bright light and outdoor environments on the low-power screen -- which consists of pixels deposited onto a thin-film transistor array.
Offering support for a variety of gesture-based capabilities -- including multi-touch pinch, long tap and zoom, and vertical and horizontal swiping --the handset's touchscreen interface also doubles as a virtual QWERTY keyboard. The device is equipped with the latest Swype technology, which is designed to let users input text faster and more intuitively.
Additionally, the new smartphone integrates an "all share" wireless capability for sending photos, music and videos...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
FCC Seeks Comments on 'Third Way' To Regulate Net
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73922
The Federal Communications Commission moved the ball forward Thursday on its "Third Way" effort to reclassify Internet service to achieve universal access and "protect and empower consumers." The reclassification would provide clearer authority to the agency, but the teams on both sides are rapidly taking shape.
Inside the FCC itself, the vote was three to two to release this plan and obtain public comments, with the two Republican appointees voting nay. Some companies, such as Google, eBay and Amazon, and various consumer groups are backing the FCC, while phone and cable companies are largely opposed.
The approved Notice of Inquiry asks specifically for comment about the reclassification of wired broadband Internet service as a telecommunications service. The reclassification would apply to data transmission, leaving Internet content and apps largely unregulated. Following several months of comments and responses, the FCC will issue its ruling.
Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC needs "to reclaim our authority." He added that he's "worried about relying only on the goodwill of a few powerful companies to achieve this country's broadband hopes and dreams."
In opposition, Republican FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said that "industry alone will not solve every challenge and no commercial market is perfect, but I fear a more proactive broadband regulatory approach would adversely affect consumers, competition and investment."
In early May, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that his agency intended to reclassify broadband service as a "telecommunications service," but only apply some of the regulations that apply to telecommunications.
The move came following an April judgment by a federal court concerning the FCC's authority over Comcast as an Internet provider. The ruling found that the agency had more limited authority under the current classification of Internet providers as "information services" than had been widely assumed.
Following the court decision, Genachowski said he rejected...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Google Improves Commerce Search for Retailers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73921
Google on Thursday rolled out the second iteration of its search solution for retailers. Google Commerce Search 2.0 overhauls the original product that aims to help e-commerce players in the United States and United Kingdom prepare for the summer shopping season.
Nitin Mangtani, a senior product manager at Google, promised a better experience for online shoppers and more control with "immediate ROI" for retailers. The pricing model for Google Commerce Search starts at $25,000 a year.
One of the questions that comes to analyst Greg Sterling's mind is how much of a revenue opportunity Google Commerce Search really is. Granted, e-commerce is a large market. But can Google win new customers and recognize any meaningful revenue with its custom retail search solution?
"It remains to be seen," said Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "Google said they have 30,000 enterprise search customers. They wouldn't break out the retail numbers. They've dropped the price, which means they haven't gotten a lot of adoption and they are trying to drive more."
Google rolled out the original version of Commerce Search a little more than six months ago without much fanfare. Google bills it as an enterprise-grade web-site search solution. It's hosted in Google's cloud. The second iteration of the product makes several improvements Google hopes will drive greater adoption.
One of the improvements is more merchant customization in the form of a merchandising dashboard. The dashboard gives merchants more control over promotions, ranking rules and filtering with no custom coding needed. Google also rolled out new retailer controls, like time-based promotions, a navigation bar with filters, and product ranking rules, that set the stage for on-the-fly seasonal optimizations.
"This is a strong product. Google is trying to be a little more aggressive with these improvements," Sterling said. "I don't know how it stacks up...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Retail Stores Are Now Selling Microsoft Office 2010
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73920
Following the release of Office 2010 in mid-May to business users, Microsoft is now selling the productivity suite to consumers through retail outlets. Available in Office Home and Student 2010, Office Home and Business 2010, and Office Professional 2010 versions, the suite went on sale Tuesday at more than 35,000 retail stores worldwide, along with the 2010 versions of Visio and Project.
The brick-and-mortar outlets include Best Buy, Fnac, Harvey Norman, and PC World, as well as such online retailers as Amazon.com and Microsoft itself. It also comes bundled with various desktop and laptop computers, in some cases as trial versions that are ready for purchase and activation.
Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop said the company has made "dramatic changes in the way we deliver Office 2010 to give consumers more buying choices." He added that, for the first time, consumers can buy a product key card at a retail outlet to activate Office 2010, which comes pre-loaded on new computers, and a new Click-to-Run technology allows buyers to download the product directly from Office.com.
The company said "more than a billion" PCs worldwide have some version of Office installed, and, based on a survey of beta users, Microsoft estimated that 75 percent will buy Office 2010 within the next six months. The 2010 beta program had more than nine million downloads, about six times the volume of downloads for the preceding version, Office 2007.
Improvements touted by the software giant include new photo and editing features in PowerPoint 2010, more extensive text effects and table formatting options in Word, the ability to reveal important trends in data using Sparklines in Excel, and advanced e-mail management and calendaring in Outlook.
Outlook also features a new Social Connector for staying in touch with business and personal networks. A new...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Lenovo Offers IdeaPad Y560d Laptop with a 3-D Screen
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73919
Following in Acer's footsteps, Lenovo on Thursday introduced a 3-D laptop. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d is the company's first multimedia laptop with a 3-D display.
Lenovo chose the TriDef 3-D technology solution to power its new machine. The solution offers a 3-D screen, software and glasses that work together to immerse users into the world of movies, pictures and games.
"While 3-D technology has been around for ages, it has not been readily accessible to consumers within the home," said Dion Weisler, vice president of business operations at Lenovo. Lenovo is among the companies hoping to change that. Acer is offering its Aspire 5738DG and analysts expect other laptop makers to follow.
The Y560d has a 15.6-inch, high-definition widescreen for viewing 3-D movies, photos and games. Lenovo said the TriDef technology lets users view some of their traditional two-dimension media in three dimensions, including standard movies, videos and photos. The 3-D laptop will cost $1,200 when it comes to market at the end of June.
"I think there will be some demand for this. There's been a growing awareness among consumers about 3-D. 3-D got a big boost from the movie Avatar," said Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates. "3-D is initially penetrating the market through gamers, who really want as immersive an experience as they can get. That segment is ahead of the overall consumer population in terms of 3-D adoption."
As Kay sees it, there is interest in 3-D from different constituencies. The content creators -- i.e., Hollywood and the gaming market -- are exploring 3-D as a way to deliver more compelling content. The manufacturers are interested in 3-D because it offers some product differentiation. Graphics-card makers could sell more high-tend cards if 3-D goes mainstream.
"Some manufacturers, like Acer and Lenovo, are jumping into 3-D notebooks early. It's...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
On the Road Again With Apple's iPad
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73896
James Wallace's iPad has a dedicated spot in his camper.
Wallace, who rebuilds airplanes in the Flagstaff, Ariz., area, has his iPad mounted in his van for camping trips, where it acts as a giant GPS and music player. When he parks for the night, the iPad turns into an entertainment hub, allowing him to watch videos and respond to any sudden urge to look up online information.
"It's a giant iPod that you can read without squinting at it," Wallace says. "I love it."
Apple's iPad made its debut in April as an in-between product that left many analysts at first wondering what exactly folks would do with it, since it is neither a laptop computer nor an iPod or iPhone. Apple has sold more than 2 million so far, exceeding expectations.
And it turns out that one of the big pluses for many people is taking it on holidays as Wallace does.
Since the iPad is lighter than a laptop and easier to tote, it works well for travelers on planes, especially when the person in front of you reclines the seat. Since Wi-Fi is so prevalent in hotels, the iPad doubles as an in-room entertainment machine for games, movies and e-books. Overseas travelers can take advantage of the many translation apps, which both figure out the phrases and convert them into digital speech.
The downside: It's another big thing to lug while on vacation, the screen is hard, if not impossible to read in strong daylight (by the pool, on the beach) and many Web sites can't be viewed on the iPad, because Apple refuses to support Adobe Flash software, which is used for much online video (such as Hulu and Comedycentral.com).
But the pluses apparently outweigh the minuses for many consumers. Two months after its release, the iPad is still hard to get....
Fri, 18 Jun 10
As Privacy Concerns Loom, Foursquare Carves a Niche
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73894
Now you can ping your friends to get together at a restaurant or bar. Or just shout at them.
They can find you through the global-positioning system (GPS) chips in your smart phone if you've logged on to the Foursquare social network and "checked in" at a local business location. On Foursquare, a ping is a brief "I'm here" message, while a shout is a text message.
"I've got about 150 friends and mutual acquaintances on the service," said Shawn Horton, 24, of St. Paul, Minn., a dedicated user of social media. "You just let your GPS phone say 'I'm here.' "
But New York-based Foursquare, a hot new social network that claims 1.5 million users nationwide who can locate each other whenever they want, is also a nascent cell phone advertising company -- albeit one without a discernible business model so far.
With consumers "checking in" via Foursquare at businesses such as participating restaurants and bars, they become accessible to both friends and advertisers. Foursquare sends to their cell phones a list of nearby businesses, including other restaurants or bars that are offering specials on food or drinks. Each business has a page on Foursquare that includes a list of Foursquare users who have checked-in there and consumer reviews of the businesses. So far it's free advertising for bars, restaurants and the like, although some suspect the rapidly growing Foursquare will charge them fees at some point.
But for now the Foursquare service looks democratic.
"Participants are able to share their whereabouts with friends, and it benefits the venues insofar as it's a very cheap way to market," Horton said.
In addition, Foursquare sets the privacy bar high. It lets consumers limit sharing their locations with only verified friends but gives them the option of sharing more broadly through connections to social networks Facebook or Twitter.
But...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Below-the-Radar Indicators May Signal Economic Growth
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73893
U.S. economists and markets are almost hard-wired to respond in knee-jerk fashion to the latest numbers issuing forth from the U.S. Commerce Dept., the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other government agencies, as well as established industry organizations such as the Institute for Supply Management. By recent measures, the U.S. economy isn't rebounding as quickly as some had hoped. But there's a wealth of lesser-known metrics that offer a more nuanced view of the economy -- and in some cases, these hidden indicators reflect greater confidence that the recovery is on track and sustainable in the long run.
One of the more intriguing shadow metrics is the Pulse of Commerce Index, or PCI, a joint project of Ceridian Corp., a consumer services outfit, and the Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles. The index climbed 3.1 percent in May from April, the largest monthly increase since February 1999. The PCI uses a very specific industrial measure to represent the overall strength of the broader U.S. economy: diesel fuel sales at roughly 7,000 truck stops across the country. If you think of the interstate highways crisscrossing the country as the arteries of the U.S. manufacturing economy, "the goods flowing in those arteries are the lifeblood of the system," says Ed Leamer, chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA PCI. "This is the supply chain in operation."
And unlike lagging government data, the PCI reflects real-time info recorded instantaneously by sensors at each of those 7,000 truck stops. The pop in the May PCI calls for a big boost in industrial production, and given the historic relationship between the PCI and real growth in gross domestic product, the May PCI implies GDP will grow 3 percent to 5 percent in the second quarter, ahead of the normal 3 percent pace, according...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
Threat of Cyberattacks Spurs Government Action
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73890
The government may have to take "extraordinary measures" in response to a cyber attack that had affected critical public or privately run computer networks, a senior Homeland Security official said.
National Cyber Security Center director Phil Reitinger said Congress should work with the administration to determine whether new presidential emergency powers are needed to govern how crucial industries such as power plants, the electrical grid and vital financial systems respond during a cyber crisis.
An important Senate committee is proposing the president have more specific authority over how major industries should react. Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said those powers could include the ability to require companies to install a computer patch or block particular Internet traffic.
U.S. officials are struggling to reinforce U.S. cyber security, as federal computer networks are being scanned and attacked millions of times a day by hackers, cyber terrorists and criminals seeking to steal sensitive data or disrupt and destroy vital operations.
While few argue about the severity of the threat, lawmakers are divided over how big a role the government should play and which federal agency should be in charge. In the middle are industry leaders who argue that private companies often can do a better job than the federal government in protecting their systems and ensuring their staffs are qualified.
In testimony prepared for a hearing before the Homeland panel Tuesday, Reitinger said the president already has certain emergency powers, so any adjustments should not overlap with existing law. The testimony was obtained by The Associated Press.
The legislation, he said, "recognizes that Americans expect the federal government to anticipate, prevent, and respond to cyber threats." He said the provisions relating to presidential powers "acknowledge that the government may need to take extraordinary measures to fulfill these responsibilities."
Republican Sen. Susan...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
AT&T Ends Test of Data Limits for DSL Subscribers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73889
AT&T Inc. recently imposed limits on the data consumption of its customers with smart phones, but it has ended a test of such limits for home Internet connections.
The phone company confirmed Tuesday that it is no longer holding DSL subscribers in Reno, Nev., and Beaumont, Texas, to data consumption limits and charging them extra if they go over.
With AT&T's retreat, no major Internet service provider is championing the idea of charging subscribers for their data usage. Time Warner Cable Inc. was a major proponent of the idea and also conducted a trial in Beaumont, but backed away last summer after its plan to expand metered billing to other cities met fierce resistance from consumers and legislators.
AT&T's trial started in November 2008 in Reno, and was later extended to Beaumont. It ended on April 1 this year, said AT&T spokeswoman Dawn Benton.
"We're reviewing data from the trial, and this feedback will guide us as we evaluate our next steps," Benton said.
The end of the trial was reported this week by the blog Stop The Cap.
At the start of the test, Dallas-based AT&T limited traffic to 20 gigabytes per month for users of its slowest DSL service. The limit increased with the speed of the plan, up to 150 gigabytes per month. Those who exceeded the limit paid $1 per gigabyte.
In practice, e-mail and Web use didn't take subscribers close to the limits, but online video services, videoconferencing and game downloads could. AT&T and Time Warner Cable said the caps were a way to curb "bandwidth hogs" -- subscribers who consume an inordinate amount of data, slowing down service for other subscribers. Time Warner Cable set much lower initial limits than AT&T in its trial, starting at 5 gigabytes per month.
Last week, AT&T revamped how it charges for data use on smart...
Fri, 18 Jun 10
New Matchmaking Site Helps Apple Fans 'Date Different'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73885
Apple Inc.'s ads used to challenge consumers to "think different." Now a Web site wants to help fans of the iPhone and Mac computer maker date different, too.
Called Cupidtino, an homage to Apple's home base in Cupertino, California, the site aims to connect Apple aficionados with like-minded "Machearts." The idea is that if you love the iPhone and Mac maker's products you might be best suited to date a fellow Apple fan.
Profile pages on the site reveal such intimate details as earliest Apple product purchases and lists of favorite iPhone apps.
Cupidtino is the brainchild of Mel Sampat, a former Microsoft employee, who came up with the idea during an argument with his girlfriend over whether he should use his iPad during dinner. Sampat told her that if they ever broke up he would date someone who likes Apple products. That got him thinking about creating a site to help connect those who do.
"The more I thought about it, the more I realized people that are true Apple fans might actually have a lot more in common than they realize," he said.
The site's styling is unmistakably Apple-inspired, with a crisp, clean layout, copious use of black, white and gray and text presented in a bold, sans-serif font.
So far, Apple hasn't taken issue with the similarities. Sampat said he received an e-mail from Apple's business development team in San Francisco, which basically said it was aware of Cupidtino and to let the group know if he needed any help. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Shuguet said the company had no comment.
The site, which was initially available in a free "beta" version but starting Wednesday will charge users about $5 a month to read messages they've been sent, has snagged 16,000 Apple fanboys and fangirls since it launched in early June. It's usable only on...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Nintendo Is Counting on 3DS To Keep Its Portable on Top
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73904
As Nintendo gets ready to release the latest version of its industry-leading DS handheld video-game device, a lot is riding on its groundbreaking, no-glasses 3DS with 3-D display. While still the major player in the industry with the top-selling portable game device, Nintendo has seen sales drop in recent years as competition from rival platforms, as well as smartphone game apps, take a toll.
The DS, which evolved from the early Game Boy, has sold more than 128 million units worldwide since 2004 in multiple versions, but the company saw sales drop last year to 27.11 million from 31.18 million in 2008.
With profits falling, Nintendo hopes being the first to introduce a 3-D display will keep its portable on top.
"They are banking on how consumers will view the 3-D experience," said digital-home analyst Michael Inouye of ABI Research. "Other than the 3-D, I don't see too much of a revolutionary change. There is a big push toward 3-D, and it's unclear if consumers are going to embrace it or not."
Most of the other features of the new 3DS, such as a touchscreen and Wi-Fi capability, are already available on the current DSi and DSi XL. With its larger, 4.2-inch screen, the XL is also capable of functioning as an e-reader.
Competitor Sony now has games for its PlayStation 3 that will be compatible with its 3-D-capable televisions, but hasn't announced plans for a 3-D portable.
In his presentation at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime unveiled the 3DS with a revolutionary flair.
"This year we intend to show you how once again Nintendo is raising the bar in terms of game experience," he said. "This solution lets you take 3-D with you wherever you go. The 3-D effect should be immediate, requiring...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Sony Brings 3-D To PS3, Unveils Move Controller
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73902
With Microsoft and then Nintendo grabbing headlines at the big E3 Expo trade show now taking place in Los Angeles, Sony took its turn in a press event on Tuesday. But while Microsoft's new game controller doesn't actually have a controller, and Nintendo's 3DS handheld doesn't need 3-D glasses, Sony showed 3-D for its PlayStation 3 that requires glasses and, without fanfare, released its Move motion controller.
The headline event at the two-hour event in LA's Shrine Auditorium was the presentation of new 3-D-enhanced titles for Sony's video-game console, including Killzone 3, Crysis 2, MLB10: The Show, The Fight: Lights Out, Mortal Kombat Fatality, Gran Turismo 5, and The Sly Collection.
Sony has set high goals for its foray into 3-D gaming. "What Avatar did for 3-D movies," entertainment group head Kazuo Hirai told news media, "Killzone will do for 3-D games."
Some attendees said the 3-D effect was designed not to send objects hurtling toward the user, as in old 3-D movies, but to enhance the image depth, as in Avatar. Others have wondered about the fatigue of wearing 3-D glasses for the duration of marathon gaming sessions, the lack of focus on gaming because of the imagery, and the need to have a 3-D TV.
The Move controller puts Sony into motion-sensitive game controls, a territory that Nintendo has held largely by itself with its Wii console until recently. Earlier in the week, Microsoft took the wraps off its upcoming Kinect un-controller, where players use body movements and voice commands to control game play.
On Tuesday, Nintendo unveiled the long-rumored 3-D version of its popular DS handheld device, which can play games and show movies in 3D without glasses. The technology was not discussed, but some industry observers have suggested it uses a parallax barrier system created by Hitachi...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Low-Cost Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 Targets Entertainment
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73901
On Wednesday, Sony Ericsson rolled out its version of a low-cost smartphone running the Android operating system. The Xperia X8 is billed as an "entertainment" smartphone with a touchscreen.
The social-media twist on the Xperia X8 is called Timescape. The feature offers quick access to all of a user's social-networking sites, as well as a single button for one-click access to entertainment content like Sony Ericsson FM radio, video streaming, and video viewing.
The entertainment-focused Xperia X8 sets the stage for game play with games from the Android Market or watching clips on YouTube, browsing the web, or downloading music. The device comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 3.2-megapixel camera with video-recording functionality. Users can upload videos to Facebook, complete with geotagging and the ability to create albums.
"The smartphone market overall is growing, and now we are seeing stratification," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "As the market grows and smartphones become more popular, the vendors are segmenting the market and targeting different price points with different products. It's a good thing. It means that the smartphone market is maturing."
The Xperia X8, with its entertainment focus, is one example of that stratification. So are low-priced Android phones. Timo Maassmann, product marketing manager for Xperia X8, stressed the Xperia X8's "more accessible price point." The price is less than 200 euros (US$246) in selected markets.
Greengart said Android opens the door to lower-cost devices because handset makers don't have to invest in the operating system, though many have IP costs that mitigate that savings. With Apple and Research In Motion leading the way on lower-cost smartphones, he said, it is natural to see Android devices follow suit.
"In the U.S., subsidies are lower than in some markets and higher than others. So you've got a $99 iPhone and a...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Twitter Expects Service Outages Will Continue for a While
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73899
It's been a tough couple of weeks for social media's rising star -- and it looks like it's going to get even tougher as Twitter expects service outages to continue. From a site-stability and service-outage perspective, June has been Twitter's worst month since last October -- and the light at the end of the social-media tunnel is weeks ahead as the World Cup and other factors are causing traffic to spike, apparently faster than Twitter can get resources in place to deal with it.
"We're working through tweaks to our system in order to provide greater stability at a time when we're facing record traffic," said Sean Garrett, vice president of communications at Twitter. "We have long-term solutions that we are working toward, but in the meantime we are making real-time adjustments so that we can grow our capacity and avoid outages during the World Cup."
That's the good news. Here's the bad news: Garrett said Twitter engineers have uncovered "unexpected deeper issues" and have even caused inadvertent downtime as a result of attempts to make changes.
Ultimately, Garrett said, the changes that Twitter is undergoing will make the micro-blogging site much more reliable. In the meantime, all he can do is apologize: "We certainly are not happy about the disruptions that we have faced and even caused this week and understand how they negatively impact our users."
Some believe Twitter should have already had resources in place to deal with the growing traffic. The social-media industry's golden child is answering that this way: "Record traffic and unprecedented spikes in activity are never simple to manage."
According to Garrett, Twitter was aware of the likely impact of the World Cup, but didn't anticipate some of the complexities that come with fixing and optimizing its systems before and during the global event.
Thu, 17 Jun 10
AT&T Halts iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Amid Heavy Demand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73898
AT&T has temporarily suspended pre-orders of Apple's iPhone 4. The company had said late Tuesday that it was investigating software problems, but on Wednesday AT&T attributed the suspension to extremely high demand. It said pre-orders will resume when inventory becomes available.
More than 600,000 iPhone 4 pre-orders were recorded by AT&T and Apple as the process began Tuesday. Apple said demand was far higher than expected.
Apple is still taking pre-orders, but only for black models. It said new orders will be shipped by July 2 instead of the original date of June 24.
Late Tuesday, AT&T said it was investigating reports that customers are "inadvertently seeing the wrong account information during the iPhone 4 purchasing process."
Some sources with knowledge of AT&T's inner activities say the pre-order system wasn't tested before launch. There have been reports that some users were able to log in to others' accounts by just logging into their own. AT&T told news media it hasn't been able to duplicate the bug, but any revealed information did not include Social Security numbers, credit-card information, or call-detail records.
In addition, there were reports that, in some cases, customer information was accepted but no pre-order was completed. One rumor contended that the problem was related to errors caused by a major update to prevent fraud.
The problem exacerbates AT&T's record for online security as it relates to Apple products. Recently, hacker site Goatse Security revealed a security vulnerability on AT&T's site that allowed the unauthorized acquisition of more than 100,000 iPad users' SIM card ID numbers and e-mail addresses.
The list of e-mail addresses included many high-profile individuals, such as staff members in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and employees at the Justice Department, NASA, Department of Homeland Security, The New York Times, Dow Jones, Viacom, Time...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Market Leader Nokia Expects Lower Mobile Revenue
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73897
Nokia lowered its second-quarter outlook for sales of mobile devices and services Wednesday, citing factors such as competitive pressures at the high end of the market and shifts in product mix. For all of 2010, Nokia said it now expects a lower market value than the company held last year.
It appears Nokia has little confidence that the new devices it plans to bring to market later this year will be enough to overcome the inroads that rivals have made at the high end of the mobile-product spectrum, noted Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi.
"Android has come up very quickly as a viable platform, and vendors such as Samsung and Sony Ericsson are stepping up their smartphone portfolio offerings," Milanesi said in an e-mail. "This will make Nokia's home market in Europe even more competitive than in 2009 -- not only in the high end but also in the mid-tier segment," she added in a blog.
One reason Nokia cited for its revised outlook is the shift in the company's product mix toward somewhat lower gross margin products -- a trend that Milanesi noted has been under way for almost a year now.
"Since the N95, Nokia has been missing a cutting-edge high-end device that drives brand value through the portfolio," Milanesi explained. "Sales in the mix are more and more into the low end where margins are lower."
Nokia also noted that the recent depreciation of the euro is affecting the cost of goods it sells, as well as the company's operating expenses and global pricing tactics. Though Gartner expects handset prices to be under stronger pressure for those vendors buying in U.S. dollars and selling in euros, the research firm doesn't think currency issues are the main reason for Nokia's financial revisions.
Lower-tier smartphones and non-smartphone products continue to...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Help Wanted: MTV Is Seeking a Twitter Jockey
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73873
Remember the MTV VJ? That's so two decades ago. Now the network is looking to hire its first TJ, or Twitter Jockey.
MTV officials say the search is on for a new social media maven who will engage with the MTV audience and serve as a liaison between viewers and network honchos.
MTV General Manager Stephen Friedman called the TJ position "a natural evolution of how we connect with our audience."
The network has identified 18 potential candidates and is asking its audience to find two more. The 20 hopefuls will compete in a series of online challenges this summer designed to reveal their personalities and demonstrate how they connect with Twitter followers.
Five finalists will ultimately compete on a live show on Aug. 8, when fans will pick who gets the new job.
"The hope is that this person will be dynamic, engaging and energized, an enthusiast within the social media world," said Dave Sirulnik, the executive overseeing the contest. "Somebody who will represent the audience by taking their thoughts and questions and ... through an ongoing dialogue with them, be able to bring those questions inside the walls here to the people who make MTV."
The new Twitter Jockey will report on MTV events, such as the Video Music Awards in September, and appear on-air periodically.
"While they won't be on TV the way VJs were," Sirulnik said, "they will always be on."
Insight MTV executives gain through the new online representative's interaction with fans could influence programming and network decisions, Friedman said.
"Twitter and Facebook enable us to make smarter decisions," he said. "This will benefit us hopefully as much as it benefits the audience."
Viewers can nominate themselves or their favorite Facebook friends for the position online beginning Monday. The MTV TJ will be based in New York and earn a six-figure salary.
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Fixing Common Annoyances in Internet Explorer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73872
By most estimates, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) is still the most widely used browser. It is, after all, delivered with every copy of Windows. And it's the browser sanctioned by many corporations. So whether you like IE or not, chances are good that you use it at least some of the time. Chances are that you've searched for answers to some of the browser's most annoying traits. Here are a few:
Q: When I'm on some of my favorite sites and want to insert a link, IE gives me a yellow bar that says "This Web site is using a scripted window to ask you for information," and I have to click the "x" in the yellow bar to get rid of the message and allow the pop-up. How do I get rid of this bar permanently?
A: You need to do two things. First, add the sites in question to your list of trusted sites. To do so, open the IE Tools menu, and click Internet Options. From the resulting Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab. From there, select the Trusted Sites icon, and then click the Sites button. The Trusted Sites dialog lists the sites that you have marked as trustworthy. The URL (web address) of the site currently displayed will appear automatically in the "Add this Web site" box. Uncheck the check box labeled "Require server verification," and then click the Add button. The site will then appear in the listed of trusted sites. Click Close to close this dialog box.
Now you need to revisit the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box. This time, though, select the Internet icon rather than Trusted Sites, and then click the Custom Level button. Doing so opens the Security Settings dialog box. Scroll down in the list of Security...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Paid Searches Can Manage the Message
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73871
A Google search of "BP," "gulf spill" or "oil spill" pulls up stories and pictures of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
But atop the results page is a paid-for link, "BP.com/GulfOfMexicoResponse" that the sullied oil company established to show how it is addressing the crisis.
The page is a high-profile example of how companies use paid online search advertising -- a mainstay of marketing in the last few years -- to not only sell products but also manage their messages.
Paid search advertising, in which companies pay for a premium spot on the results list, has gained momentum and the trend is expected to continue.
Companies spend for premium placement when certain terms are searched, saying it raises their online profile with potential customers.
The terms are usually related to the firm's basic services or some current aspect it wants to draw attention to. Payment to Google is typically based on how many people click on the link.
"More than 80 percent of the online population is on Google and they're raising their hands asking for your product," said Maureen Schumacher, Google sales director in Atlanta. "A company is able to place their ad right at the time that their interest is highest."
Google is the largest but not the only player in the paid advertising search business, with Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing also vying for their share of paid search dollars.
Internet research firm eMarketer estimates paid search will grow to $12.3 million this year from $10.6 million a year ago. This year's projected amount is about 50 percent of the estimated $25 million marketers will spend this year on all forms of online advertising, which includes banner ads, video and e-mail.
Spending on online video ads is expected to grow at a faster clip, from a projected $1.5 million this year to $5.5 million in...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Twitter Wraps Its Tentacles Around the World Cup
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73869
Kaka and Diego Maradona's son-in-law tweeted their love. Sepp Blatter tweeted his enthusiasm for South Africa. Cristiano Ronaldo said he didn't have time for tweeting because he was too busy training.
The popular social networking and microblogging service Twitter, whose short messages are known as "tweets," has wrapped its growing tentacles around the World Cup with a vengeance.
Users include the German Football Association (DFB), which has been giving fans an inside look at the German national football team via Twitter.
"The players are gradually waking up. Shortly after 3 a.m. this morning the team was back in their hotel," read a DFB tweet on the morning after the team's 4-0 thrashing of Australia on Sunday.
While DFB tweets are rather sedate, the Latin Americans', as might be expected, are more passionate. "I love you," Brazilian superstar Kaka tweeted his wife, Caroline. Earlier, she had texted her hubby longingly with the message, "You're the love of my life."
Argentine footballer Sergio Aguero, who is Maradona's son-in-law, also tweeted loved ones back home. "Had a great birthday but miss my family," Aguero wrote.
As the World Cup got under way, Uruguay's goal-getter Diego Forlan tweeted: "We're Uruguay. All Urus have long awaited this day. Let's enjoy it." His message ended with 14 exclamation points.
Ronaldo, however, has had to disappoint his many Twitter followers: "Because of all the preparations, I've hardly been able to tweet," the Portuguese heartthrob tweeted.
Some national team coaches have put their foot down hard on social networking. England boss Fabio Capello has banned his players from using either Twitter or Facebook, as has his no-nonsense counterpart for Spain's side, Vicente del Bosque.
The Mexicans have been slapped with a tweet ban too. Chile's coach, Marcelo Bielsa, has even forbidden his charges from surfing the Internet at night.
The coach of the Netherlands, Bert van Marwijk, banned...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Trade Tensions Brew Between the U.S. and China
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73868
China is heightening trade tensions with the United States by taking steps that could make it harder for U.S. software, clean-energy and other cutting-edge companies to sell in the Chinese market.
Beijing has proposed rules that U.S. businesses say would lead its government agencies to buy high-tech and other goods only from companies that develop the technologies in China. It also plans to subsidize Chinese companies in industries such as clean energy.
U.S. business groups warn that such efforts could, for example, exclude wind turbines from General Electric Co., Siemens and other foreign providers from government-financed wind-power projects.
Members of Congress and U.S. trade officials are taking notice. The U.S. International Trade Commission holds two days of hearings starting Tuesday. The House Ways and Means Committee will look into the issue at its own hearing Wednesday.
Software executives from 12 companies, including Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, raised the issue last week in meetings with members of Congress and Obama administration officials.
U.S. software companies say they fear China's proposed policy would cost them billions in sales. Government purchases represent about 40 percent of the Chinese economy. And most software is developed outside China. Those products wouldn't be eligible for purchase by Chinese government agencies and state-owned enterprises.
China's policies to encourage what is known as "indigenous innovation" have moved to the top of the list of trade concerns for U.S. businesses. For some, they are nearly as important as the disputes over China's currency and the piracy of music CDs and Hollywood movies in that country.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner raised objections to China's approach in high-level talks in Beijing last month. At a congressional hearing last week, he said China agreed to discuss U.S. objections "over the coming weeks and months."
China hasn't yet formally adopted the government procurement rules. But according to a survey in March...
Thu, 17 Jun 10
Jackson Fans To Moonwalk in Motion-Sensing Game
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73865
Gamers will have the opportunity to moonwalk alongside The King of Pop.
Video game developer Ubisoft announced Monday it would release a new dancing-and-singing game featuring Michael Jackson this holiday season. The as-yet-unnamed game will be among the first to use Kinect and Move, the respective motion-detecting camera systems for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 due out later this year.
"Your goal is to dance like Michael," said Tony Key, Ubisoft's marketing vice president. "Do what the guy on the screen is doing and you're there. It'll score you based on the quality of your performance."
The game's launch will roughly coincide with the November debut of a new album containing unreleased Jackson recordings. Versions of the game, which will feature songs from Jackson's catalog, including "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," will also be available for Nintendo's Wii and the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable handheld consoles.
The announcement was made during Ubisoft's Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference at the Los Angeles Theater. No footage from the game was shown, but dancers from Jackson's "This Is It" tour took to the stage to perform a routine set to "Beat It" at the conclusion of Monday's event.
"With the technology that is available today, you will be able to learn how to be as good as those guys are and even better," said Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's CEO.
It won't be Jackson's first appearance in a game. He starred in 1989's action game "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker."
Ubisoft has already found the right moves with the dancing game genre. The game maker's "Just Dance," released for the Wii last year, has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.
"Rock Band" developers Harmonix are also choreographing their own dancing title, unveiled at Microsoft's press conference Monday with a routine set to Gwen Stefani's "Keep On Dancing." "Dance Central" uses Kinect...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Look, Ma! No Glasses for Nintendo's New 3-D 3DS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73881
If you want to one-up the neighbor who has a new glasses-required 3-D TV, Nintendo has just the thing. On Tuesday, the games giant unveiled a new version of its DS handheld device that can play games and show movies in 3-D without glasses.
Introduced at the E3 Expo currently taking place in Los Angeles, the 3DS features two screens -- a 3.53-inch top screen display and a 3.02-inch bottom touch panel -- and three built-in cameras. Two of the cameras allow the user to take 3-D digital photos. A slider allows for depth adjustment on the 3-D effect.
There's also a motion sensor, a gyro sensor, and a Slide Pad for 360-degree analog input. No price or release date has been announced, although Nintendo has previously suggested a launch in March of next year.
The company didn't describe how its technology works, but some industry observers had previously predicted it would utilize a parallax barrier system created by Hitachi and Sharp. That technology uses vertical slits in front of a LCD screen, which directs the appropriate light to the left and right eyes.
Nintendo video-game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said the "additional dimension of depth in 3D makes it easier for players to judge distances while giving developers a new tool to create games and experiences that play with both height and depth."
The company showed a variety of 3-D games that build on existing franchises. These include Mario Kart, which Nintendo said "shows off the potential of driving and tossing bananas in 3D"; StarFox 64 3-D, which can now show "the true distance and depth of outer space"; DJ Hero 3-D; and Samurai Warriors 3-D.
In production are 3-D versions of Super Street Fighter IV, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Codename: Chocobo Racing 3-D, Final Fantasy, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell Chaos...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
HP Rolls Out Business Service Management 9.0
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73878
On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard rolled out the latest version of its Business Service Management software suite. The new management solutions are aimed at customers dealing with the challenges associated with hybrid delivery models.
Rather than focusing strictly on the cloud, HP's BSM 9.0 works to streamline on-premise, off-premise, physical and virtual environments. The BSM 9.0 includes HP Business Availability Center 9.0, HP Operations Manager i 9.0; and HP Network Management Center 9.0. The promised result: Faster time to market and better agility with application investments.
As HP sees it, mismanaged hybrid delivery models are making IT environments more complex. That complexity raises both the risk and the cost for organizations that expected to lower risk and save money by adopting hybrid models.
"Virtualization is a great example of disruptive technology," said Paul Muller, a HP vice president. "We expect there to be at least a doubling in the number of virtual machines that are being consumed by IT by 2012. That's a big shift. That, combined with cloud computing and the consumerization of IT, marks a tipping point for many of our clients."
HP BSM 9.0 promises to improve IT operations by making it possible for staff to effectively manage application performance and availability to meet service-level agreements. HP BSM 9.0 offers a run-time service model that updates the complete run-time environment of the application service no matter where it's running. That gives operations staff a more accurate view of IT services, HP said, which reduces user impact and troubleshooting time.
BSM 9.0 also offers new collaboration capabilities that leverage Web 2.0 mashups to deliver actionable data across multiple interfaces, including mobile devices. The goal is to breed faster decision making and problem resolution. Then there's the automation piece. HP is automating the event resolution process to lower troubleshooting costs and drive...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
BlackBerrys Will Get Touchscreens To Fight iPhone 4
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73877
Marshalling its forces to respond to the iPhone threat, Canadian smartphone giant Research In Motion is reportedly gearing up to release new devices that feature touchscreens, which Apple's iPhone has, and a slide-out keyboard, which it doesn't.
RIM remains the smartphone market leader, with a fairly comfortable 35 percent share as of the first quarter, only two percent less than the prior quarter, according to the latest study from Nielsen. But Apple is breathing down RIM's neck with 28 percent, having gained two percent, the same increase as Google's Android-based devices, now at nine percent of the market.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs cited those statistics in unveiling the new iPhone 4 at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference last week.
"RIM should be paranoid about losing out to Apple," says Gerry Purdy, principal analyst at MobilTrax. "They need to step up to the plate and offer a lot more than they have to date."
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that RIM is working on an iPhone-like device that allows users to move through different applications by swiping fingers on the touchscreen. The device also has a universal search bar that accesses both the Internet and the phone's memory for data, unnamed sources said.
RIM is also working on a tablet device to be released by the end of the year, said the Journal, which would utilize smartphone connections to get online.
RIM spokespeople declined to comment for the report, which they attributed to rumor and speculation. Company executives unveiled the latest operating system, BlackBerry 6.0, at an investor conference in April and have said a new device running that OS and a new browser will be available at the end of the third quarter.
The BlackBerry Storm is currently RIM's only device to feature a touchscreen.
How well consumers respond to...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Refreshed Mac Mini Targets Entertainment Systems
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73876
Apple has launched a refreshed Mac mini computer that is designed to match both the decor and advanced capabilities of today's advanced home entertainment systems. The new Mac mini can connect with HDTV sets, iPads and other electronic gadgets by way of wire-line HDMI, mini DisplayPort and FireWire 800 ports, and over high-speed Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth wireless connections.
The new Mac mini models unveiled Tuesday sport an aluminum housing featuring a minimalist footprint that measures just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thick -- despite Apple having integrated the AC power supply into the chassis this time around.
"The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design" offering "twice the graphics performance, HDMI support, and industry-leading energy efficiency," said Apple Vice President Philip Schiller.
Priced at $699, the standard Mac mini runs Mac OS X and is equipped with a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 320GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM. By contrast, the more expensive Mac mini priced at $999 runs the Snow Leopard Server X OS and sports a 2.66-GHz Intel Core Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives, a DVD/CD optical drive, and 4GB of RAM.
Apple has doubled the multimedia performance of both machines through the addition of Nvidia's GeForce 320M graphics hardware, which features 48 processing cores. Both Mac mini offerings also integrate an SD card slot for accepting cards from cameras, camcorders and other portable electronic devices; four USB 2.0 ports; and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
Apple's new machines ship with iLife, Apple's suite of applications for managing photos, making movies, and creating music. Other Mac mini options and accessories include an Apple remote control as well as standard peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays.
The standard amount...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Microsoft Office 2010 Will Be Pre-Loaded on New PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73875
It's official. Microsoft just released Office 2010. It's already available on laptops and PCs -- and Microsoft expects more than 100 million PCs will ship with the new software pre-loaded in the next year.
"For the first time, people can purchase a product key card at retail to activate Office 2010 pre-loaded on new PCs," said Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's Business Division. He said consumers who want to download Office 2010 direct from Office.com for an existing PC can get it up and running in minutes.
What's under the Office 2010 hood? Office 2010 offers Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Word 2010 now offers the ability to format tables and add extensive text effects, as well as coauthoring.
Excel 2010 reveals data trends with a function called Sparklines. PowerPoint 2010 offers new video- and photo-editing features, along with the ability to deliver presentations online with a PowerPoint Broadcast Slideshow. Also included is OneNote 2010, which makes it easier to find, organize and share docs.
Office 2010 offers new and improved e-mail management and calendaring capabilities and a new Outlook Social Connector to help users keep in touch with personal and business networks.
"Office 2010 appears faster. Outlook in particular, which in the 2007 version had a habit of hanging up on me quite a bit, now virtually never hangs up. It sometimes takes a little longer to initially boot up," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "But as long as you just suspend your laptop, you can just keep on working, which I find to be an incredible productivity gain."
Office 2010 comes in three versions: Office Home and Student, Office Home and Business, and Office Professional. With about 1.8 billion Internet users worldwide, Microsoft is touting Office 2010 as a growth opportunity for the...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Starbucks Stores Will Have Free Wi-Fi from AT&T
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73874
Your office-away-from-the-office, otherwise known as Starbucks, will now have free Wi-Fi. On Monday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced that one-click, free Wi-Fi will be available at all U.S. stores, beginning July 1.
The AT&T-provided service will also offer the Starbucks Digital Network in the fall, in partnership with Yahoo. The network will provide Starbucks patrons with free, unrestricted access to such paid sites and services as The Wall Street Journal's site, as well as exclusive content, previews and downloads, and local community news.
The company said "free" means no Starbucks card is required, and "one-click" means no username or password. A user just needs to click to connect in a browser on a laptop, smartphone or tablet at a Starbucks. Usage is unlimited.
In 2008, Starbucks attempted to provide free Wi-Fi, but it came with a two-hour usage limit, and a Starbucks card was required. In addition, AT&T's terms of service prohibited using the connection for video streaming, phone calls, IMs or uploading media.
Other content providers in the network include iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo and ZAGAT. The network is a project of Digital Ventures, a new business unit inside Starbucks that is headed by the company's CIO and general manager, Stephen Gillett. Gillett told news media that the company doesn't expect the free Wi-Fi and content to cause people to linger much longer than they would normally.
At a business conference in New York where the announcement was made, Schulz said the company wants to create content you can only get at Starbucks, adding that "this is a thing that doesn't exist in any consumer marketplace in America."
Starbucks is counting on the local news and information to provide another added value that only its stores have, not unlike the Starbucks-branded music the...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Gannett To Set Up Local Web Sites in 10 Markets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73860
Gannett Co., one of the nation's biggest media companies, said Tuesday that its broadcasting arm is launching new local Web sites in 10 of its markets.
The company said the new sites will be integrated with the Web sites of its TV stations and carry community news contributed by the sites' visitors along with content produced by its own staff.
Media companies have been looking for ways to boost their local coverage as a way to set themselves apart from competition on the Web. The idea is to offer news that national outlets don't and give local businesses a way to closely target potential customers in their area.
One way to do that without the cost of hiring the many reporters it would take to cover every neighborhood in detail is to ask for material from locals on news and events.
Gannett, the country's biggest newspaper publisher with USA Today and more than 80 other dailies, said it will be setting up the new sites with help from a company called DataSphere Technologies Inc., which provides software and ad sales.
The sites will cover Atlanta, Washington, Tampa, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., Grand Rapids, Mich., Jacksonville, Fla., Buffalo, N.Y., Little Rock, Ark., Portland, Maine, and Macon, Ga.
Gannett shares rose 38 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $16.16 in morning trading amid broad market gains.
Wed, 16 Jun 10
South Korea Hit By New Cyberattacks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73847
Two South Korean government websites were struck by the second cyberattack in a week, but suffered no major damage, the government said Saturday.
Most of the computers trying to access the websites were traced to China, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said in a statement.
The Korean Culture and Information Service and the Justice Ministry were the targets of the so-called denial of service attacks on Friday, in which large numbers of computers try to connect to a site at the same time to overwhelm the server, the statement said.
The security ministry said it quickly blocked access by 274 computers with Internet Protocol addresses -- the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number -- mostly in China.
On Wednesday, similar attacks originating from China occurred on a site run by the security ministry.
The statement said it was investigating who was behind the attacks.
Last year, government websites in South Korea and the U.S. were paralyzed by similar cyberattacks that South Korean officials believed were conducted by North Korea.
South Korean media have reported that North Korea runs an Internet warfare unit aimed at hacking into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather information and disrupt service.
The two Koreas are still technically at war because the three-year Korean War ended in 1953 with an cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Classified Data Leaked To Whistle-Blower Web Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73846
The State Department says it is studying the computer hard drives used by an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, trying to assess the potential damage if allegations are true that the analyst leaked tens of thousands of classified diplomatic documents to a whistle-blower Web site.
Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is assisting in the forensic analysis of the data stored on one or more hard drives from computers believed to have been used by Army Spc. Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md.
Manning, who has not been charged with any crime, is being detained in Kuwait pending an Army criminal investigation of unauthorized leaks of classified information.
"We take this seriously," Crowley said. "Any release of classified material to those who are not entitled to have it is a serious breach of our security and, you know, can cause potential damage to our national security interests."
Former computer hacker Adrian Lamo says that Manning claimed in a series of online chats that he downloaded 260,000 classified or sensitive State Department cables and transmitted them by computer to the Web site Wikileaks.org.
Crowley said examination of the hard drives, which arrived in Washington on Thursday from Baghdad, should allow officials to verify what documents Manning may have downloaded and whether he sent them to an unauthorized recipient.
In a post on Twitter, Wikileaks has denied that it was provided with 260,000 classified documents, but it has not further clarified the matter.
Wikileaks' chief spokesman, Julian Assange, was expected to appear as part of a panel Friday night an Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas, Nev. But a conference spokesman, Mark Horvit, said Assange told him this weekend he wouldn't be coming for security reasons.
In April, Wikileaks posted a leaked video that shows Apache helicopters gunning down unarmed men in...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Political Fundraising Tool Taps Social Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73845
Candidates in some top political races are raising big sums of money using software that taps donors' social networks, an endeavor that lets the donors track their friends' donations with the zeal a fantasy baseball team owner uses to monitor player statistics.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker in Massachusetts and two GOP Senate candidates, Marco Rubio in Florida and Rob Portman in Ohio, are among those using a software-based fundraising tool called BlueSwarm to successfully tap their social networks for campaign cash. The Democratic Governors Association also plans to use it.
The software democratizes the fundraising process by letting average citizens not just donate, but raise money themselves from their Outlook contacts or their Facebook friends.
The traditional political fundraising model relies on experienced bundlers to hustle money from a small set of well-connected donors.
In contrast, BlueSwarm and similar software lets users work their friends and families and, in turn, have them solicit their own network to build a donor tree with deep roots. The same technique applies to institutional fundraising used by colleges or social causes such as charity campaigns.
Success and failure are tracked over the Internet on a screen illustrating the roots of donor's organization, as well precisely who has given and who still needs to cut a check or type in their credit card number.
It's an advance over 2004, when Democrat Howard Dean posted the rudimentary outline of a baseball bat on his Web site and ask donors to "fill" it with money. It's also more sophisticated than 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama coaxed small donations from supporters concerned about a specific issue and then returned time and again until they had incrementally given sizable sums.
"It's bringing a sales-force technology into the political realm," said Brian Shortsleeve, a venture capitalist from Boston who is already responsible for raising more than...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
America's Love Affair with Small Business
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73838
Lori Webster has been feeling the love recently. Small business love, that is. She's been telling the customers of her family-owned stationery store about the 3/50 Project, one of many campaigns to support local small businesses.
Then last week, Tom Hanks walked into Webster's Fine Stationers in Altadena, Calif. -- about 20 miles from Hollywood. Celebrities aren't unheard-of in the store: The actor John C. Reilly lives in the neighborhood and drops by occasionally.
But Hanks, who was filming on location across the street, went out of his way to talk up small business. "He told us how nice it is to shop at a family-owned business and how he particularly liked family-owned stationery stores," Webster says. Along with extolling the virtues of small business, and disparaging their big-box competitors, Hanks asked about Webster's history, posed for pictures, lamented the closing of the family's card store nearby, and bought $120 worth of pens, notebooks, and puzzle books.
Hanks' goodwill fits with a larger trend that has strengthened during the recession: As public anger smolders against banks, financial institutions, and large corporations like BP, small business owners have emerged as American heroes.
A February Gallup poll that tested Americans' reactions to seven terms, including "capitalism" and "socialism," found that "small business" got the best reaction, with a 95 percent positive rating across the political spectrum.
In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, small business owners got better ratings than any other institution the survey asked about, including churches, colleges, and the news media. The results this year build upon similar results in the recent past.
But do all these warm and fuzzy sentiments translate into a bottom-line boost for American entrepreneurs? That's a tough thing to measure, but there is some evidence they might.
In a survey released last month by WebVisible, an...
Wed, 16 Jun 10
Helpful and Useful Utilities for Social Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73837
Planting veggies on Farmville and tickling the grey matter on Brain Buddies have become standard pastimes for many users of social networks. But these days, there are also social networking utilities with a bit more substance, too. All you have to do is be willing to try them out.
Facebook is supplemented by a seemingly endless supply of apps, as are many other similar social networking sites. Most of these little programs are games, though. "Helpful applications for social network users are more rare," says Dominik Hoferer from Chip magazine. "Polls and calendar functions are much more common," he says.
Facebook users in particular have to look around a bit before they'll find much that's practical. Among the hidden treasures are apps that spare them the installation of additional programs. Picnik, for example, allows for online photo editing, including simple color correction, cropping, or red eye correction.
"Fileshare is an application that allows users to swap files," says Hoferer. Another utility, Files, creates a virtual hard drive capable of holding up to one gigabyte of data. Roomster is designed to help apartment seekers find people with space to rent -- and learn a little about each other. Zimride helps match rideshare partners and lets them check for compatibility in advance.
The social networks rely on open source: in theory anyone can create apps. But commercial companies, too, have also seen the potential. "The success of an app is much less dependent on a big budget than a good idea," says Jens Doka from lokalisten.de. One current example is the "Langenscheidt Audio Language Course in English," a Facebook app that delivers an audio course every other day, including vocabulary.
Users should know which apps use their personal data. A recent examination of social networks for their security policies found that every single social network offered insufficient...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Strong Sales Expected as iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Begin
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73857
Call it the June Classic. Fans of the iPhone around the U.S. are about to start lining up at retailers or clicking to Apple's web store as they have for the past three years to get the company's newest smartphone.
Pre-orders for the slimmer iPhone 4, unveiled last week by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, start Tuesday at retailers and the web sites of Apple and AT&T. The new iPhones will arrive in stores on June 24.
The iPhone 4 adds a substantially improved visual experience with a 640960 touchscreen and what Jobs called Retina display, creating rich characters and images that don't deteriorate when enlarged. The iPhone 4 also has an enhanced antenna built into the metal band between its glass plates, plus a gyroscope that senses movements to enhance GPS, compass apps and gaming.
There is also a five-megapixel rear-facing camera for video chatting and the latest A4 processor that will run the newest Apple operating system, iOS 4, which allows multitasking.
The price hasn't changed, with a iPhone 4 with 16GB of storage selling at $199 and a 32GB for $299, both with a two-year contract through AT&T Wireless. Demand probably won't change, either.
"I don't think there's any danger of declining sales whatsoever," said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis, who added that the new smartphone will appeal heavily to new and current iPhone fans.
"Most will be upgraders, because this is a fourth-generation product -- the installed base for upgrades is enormous," he said. "But I anticipate plenty of new users as well."
The iPhone 4 will be available at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Radio Shack stores as well as Apple retail stores. Wal-Mart is reportedly not taking pre-orders for the iPhone.
Radio Shack announced on Twitter that owners who hand in an iPhone...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
iPad-Designed Google Reader Debuts on App Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73856
Apple's App Store added a new online reader app over the weekend that syncs the iPad with free accounts at Google Reader, which constantly checks the subscriber's favorite news sites for new content. Previously only offered on Apple's iPhone, the new Reeder for iPad enables anyone who has purchased Apple's tablet to access the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) family of standardized formats used for publishing news headlines, blogs and other online content.
In a tweet posted on Twitter Friday, Reeder for iPad developer Silvio Rizzi noted that the new iPad app had just received Apple's approval, and it debuted on Apple's store later that evening. Early adopters noted that the software was designed to take advantage of the iPad's unique form factor and touchscreen capabilities.
"In this case it is fully justified to be sold as an application different from the version for iPhone," said a customer identified as Daemon. "A great mix of functionality and discovery in one package," tweeted another early adopter identified as Petero.
The Reeder for iPad app features a simple intuitive user interface that keeps the screen free of content clutter, though not everyone is keen on the predominantly grey color scheme. Occupying a svelte 2.1MB of disk space, the new Google Reader client enables users to browse in the initial dashboard screen either by feed or as folders representing RSS feed groups that are displayed in iconic stacks.
Like similar arrangements found in the latest photo-album apps for the iPhone, each stack can be pinched to display the entire range of offerings within each group. From there, readers can peruse, share or star individual content items at the flick or tap of a finger.
In addition to browsing content folders in landscape or portrait mode, users can also browse articles by individual RSS feed. Some...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Starbucks To Offer Free Wi-Fi at 6,700 U.S. Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73854
Starbucks Corp. will begin offering unlimited free Wi-Fi at all of its company-operated U.S. locations next month, part of an ongoing effort to bring more customers in the door.
The free wireless Internet will be available July 1 at about 6,700 locations.
The coffee house, which recorded its first quarterly increase in customers in 13 quarters earlier this year, had previously offered two free hours of Web access each day to registered customers.
After that, consumers at the Seattle chain were charged a small fee.
Access will continue to be offered through AT&T. But it won't require a Starbucks loyalty card, according to the announcement Monday by CEO Howard Schultz, who spoke at a conference in New York.
The move comes six months after Starbucks' competitor McDonald's Corp. began offering free Wi-Fi at 11,500 U.S. locations.
The two companies have sparred in recent years at McDonald's revamped its coffee and rolled out a successful McCafe line offering everything from drip coffee and lattes to cappuccinos to icy coffee drinks.
Along the way, Starbucks struggled as it was hit by the recession and overwhelmed by its own rapid expansion.
As business soured, it brought back Schultz, who helped build the company, to lead the day-to-day operations. And it shut hundreds of locations and laid off thousands of workers to scale back its spending.
Also Monday, Starbucks said customers will get free access to certain online content through its Wi-Fi this fall. Called the Starbucks Digital Network, the program will give Starbucks Web surfers free access to paid sites like the Wall Street Journal, along with exclusive content and free downloads from other organizations such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA TODAY, Yahoo and Zagat.
Starbucks shares climbed 34 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $27.49 in midday trading Monday.
Tue, 15 Jun 10
iPad Still Vulnerable, Hackers Say in Refuting AT&T
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73852
The iPad could have more security flaws than the one found on AT&T's web site last week. In a posting Monday, hacker site Goatse Security said "all iPads are vulnerable" because of a weakness in Apple's Safari browser. The notice was in response to an e-mail sent to iPad owners this weekend by AT&T, in which the carrier apologized but blamed the incident on "malicious" hackers.
According to Goatse, a user could click a malicious link in the browser and the security hole could allow unauthorized access to the iPad. The site said Safari does not block off high-numbered, illegitimate ports, or communication channels. This, in combination with the browser's ability to automatically fulfill software requests, could spell trouble. Apple hasn't released a fix or a statement.
The posting about Safari's vulnerability was a retort to AT&T's apology. Goatse brought attention last week to a vulnerability in the carrier's web site that allowed the acquisition of more than 100,000 iPad users' SIM card ID numbers and e-mail addresses.
In its e-mail sent Sunday, Dorothy Attwood, AT&T's senior vice president and chief privacy officer, called Goatse's hack "malicious" and the result of "great effort." She added that "unauthorized computer 'hackers' maliciously exploited a function designed to make your iPad log-in process faster." AT&T said it turned off the web-site feature that made the security breach possible.
Some observers have said AT&T should not be storing confidential information on a publicly accessible web site. The list of e-mail addresses included many high-profile individuals, including staff members in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and employees at the Justice Department, NASA, Department of Homeland Security, The New York Times, Dow Jones, Viacom, Time Warner, and News Corp.
Goatse countered AT&T's e-mail by noting that the breach took only an...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
SeaMicro Uses 512 Atom Processors for Internet Server
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73850
A Silicon Valley startup is using a processor primarily found in mobile devices for a new kind of cloud-computing server. On Monday, SeaMicro unveiled its Internet-optimized x86 server, based on 512 Intel Atom processors.
The model, SM10000, is described by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company as the "ultimate rethink of the volume server." It said the server is specifically designed for the workloads and traffic patterns on the Internet, and that its approach "dramatically reduces power draw and footprint without requiring any modifications to existing software."
The company said the SM10000's key benefits include using a quarter of the power and taking up a quarter of the space as an equivalent, best-in-class volume server. The new unit can run off-the-shelf operating systems and applications without modification, and has an architecture flexible enough to support any CPU.
Other technology innovations include a patented new CPU I/O virtualization, elimination of 90 percent of the components ordinarily required for virtualization, and a supercomputer-style interconnect fabric linking the 512 mini-motherboards into a single system -- which results in a throughput of 1.28 terabits. The architecture supports any protocol, including Ethernet, fibre channel, or data-center Ethernet. The unit's 512 Atom processors run at 1.6 GHz, with one terabyte of DRAM.
SeaMicro is especially promoting the power savings. The company cited reports from Google to the effect that, if current power requirements continue, the cost of energy for a server will, over its lifetime, surpass the initial purchase cost.
SeaMicro said its approach deals with a "fundamental server design mismatch." Servers, it said, were initially designed to solve a "relatively small number of very hard problems," a situation that was changed by the Internet.
In a data center focused on the Internet, it said, the challenge is handling many relatively small, independent tasks -- searches, social networking,...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Controller-Free Project Natal Unveiled as Kinect Plug-In
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73849
On Sunday, Microsoft introduced the next evolution in gaming at E3 in Los Angeles. What was code-named Project Natal has been unveiled as Kinect for Xbox 360, a controller-free gaming device that analysts say is poised to change the gaming experience as we know it.
Kinect is a sensor that plugs into the Xbox 360. It contains a camera, audio sensors, and motion-sensing technology that tracks 48 points of movement on the human body. It has the ability to recognize faces and voices and eliminates the need for players to memorize commands on handheld controls.
"You are the controller," said Mike Delman, corporate vice president of global marketing for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business. "You simply step in front of the sensor and Kinect sees you move, hears your voice, and recognizes your face."
Kinect can perform full-motion tracking of the human body at 30 frames per second. It doesn't make any difference what the user is wearing or what type of furniture is in the room.
Microsoft estimates there are more than 40 million Xbox 360 consoles on the market -- and the company anticipates Kinect will help boost that number because it appeals to traditional non-gamers such as young children, mothers and grandparents.
In fact, Delman is betting that Kinect will help Xbox become the hub of games and entertainment in the living room and open up a new audience for the console. Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, agrees.
"Kinect brings gaming to a whole new audience that doesn't view a game pad or any type of controller as natural, because it's not," Gartenberg said. "Kinect is about total immersion into the game and breaking down that third wall between the gamer and the activity."
The Sunday-night Cirque du Soleil show at which Microsoft demonstrated the...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
HTC Aria Signals Emergence of Low-End Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73848
While the smartphone world waits for Apple to open up pre-orders of the iPhone 4 on Tuesday, AT&T is rolling out its second Android-powered device: The HTC Aria. The HTC Aria will come to market four days before the iPhone 4 and at a significantly lower price.
HTC is billing the Aria as a pocket-sized device running the Android 2.1 platform. The Aria is smaller than other smartphones at just four inches long and weighing 4.05 ounces. The design doesn't have any sharp edges, which HTC said makes it more convenient and more comfortable to carry and hold.
The Aria offers a five-megapixel camera, a 3.2-inch HVGA display, a captive touchscreen, and an optical joystick. The cost is $129.99 after a $100 rebate when consumers sign a two-year contract with AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the HTC Aria.
According to Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, the HTC Aria demonstrates how smartphones are becoming increasingly smart. "It's going to be increasingly hard to make distinctions between Android devices," he said. "But what Android has done is make it possible for consumers to get into the smartphone experience fairly cheaply."
The HTC Aria will not only tap into AT&T's 3G network, but the company said the phone is compatible with its High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 Mbps technology. That means faster than 3G speeds, and it sets the stage for mobile broadband use. The phone is also Wi-Fi capable. AT&T has more than 20,000 hot spots users can connect to across the U.S.
Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America, said although the compact size and design sets the HTC Aria apart from the pack, its HTC Sense experience is the major differentiator. The Sense experience automatically delivers information that users deem most important to the home page of the mobile device....
Tue, 15 Jun 10
E3 Readies Diverse Fun for Gamers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73844
There might be something for everyone at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Once a boisterous bastion for geeky gamers, the gaming industry's annual convention has in recent years morphed into a more modest showcase of the latest in hardware and games from publishers and developers who now want to reach consumers of all kinds -- not just guys. This year's E3 is likely to mimic last year's shift to a cautiously glitzy affair.
Nearly 250 exhibitors, including publishing giants Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, plan to hype their latest games and gizmos. The Entertainment Software Association expects 45,000 attendees this week, which would be 4,000 more folks than last year. That's still shy of the massive crowd of 70,000 who flocked to the Los Angeles Convention Center back in 2005.
"I think there will be a couple of surprises and a couple of expected things," said Greg Zeschuk, co-founder at Electronic Arts' BioWare. "Obviously, the thing that Sony and Microsoft are going for is to broaden their reach with consumers. It'll be interesting to get hands on and see what kind of products they'll have that use the motion controls."
Microsoft and Sony unveiled their respective motion-control devices at last year's E3 and will focus their attention at this year's show on games that use the camera-based systems. Nintendo, who launched motion control into the mainstream in 2006 with the Wii, will meanwhile flaunt their pulse-detecting Wii Vitality Sensor and the 3DS, a 3-D handheld device.
In anticipation of the expo, which kicks off Sunday, Sony lunged into 3-D gaming last week by releasing three downloadable 3-D games for the PlayStation 3. The publisher plans to demonstrate 3-D versions of bigger games at E3, such as "Killzone 3" and "Gran Turismo 5." Other game makers will also exhibit 3-D titles that require a 3-D TV or...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Networking Site Tagged.com Charged with Allowing Porn
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73828
Child pornography was allowed to remain on social-networking site Tagged.com for nearly two months after undercover investigators posed as users and reported the content to the site's administrators, the state attorney general's office charged Thursday.
The office notified Tagged.com that it would sue the site if the problems were not resolved within 5 days, said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who previously targeted the site last summer and accused it of stealing the identities of more than 60 million Internet users in a deceptive marketing campaign.
One slideshow that remained on the site as of Thursday morning depicted children, some who appeared as young as 5, engaged in sexual acts with other children, Cuomo's office said. The slideshow was sent to Tagged.com on April 17 using the site's own reporting procedures.
Louis Willacy, a lawyer for Tagged Inc., issued a statement saying the site was cooperating with investigators and hoped "to resolve this quickly in the best interest of our members' safety."
"We strive constantly to improve our program to keep illegal content out and prevent unlawful contact between adults and minors on our site," he said. A spokeswoman declined to comment further.
Cuomo, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, told reporters at a press conference that he was speaking as a father of three school-age daughters when he issued a warning to parents: "Sometimes the most dangerous place for a young person can be sitting on their bed, in their bedroom, at home with their computer open -- because you really don't know where they are," he said.
After receiving a civilian tip, investigators from Cuomo's office spent three months creating undercover user accounts and posing as both parents and abusers. They made more than 100 reports about 80 users, but as of Thursday morning, 51 of those users still had active accounts, the...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Google Troubled by Vietnam's Internet Rules
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73825
Google Inc. says new Internet regulations in Vietnam raise disturbing concerns that the government may be working to block access to Web sites and track user activity.
An entry posted Thursday on Google's online public policy blog said new regulations passed in April require that all retail Internet locations in the capital of Hanoi must install special software on their server computers by 2011.
"The implementation of an application like this one would choke off access to information for many in Hanoi -- given how popular Internet cafes are among Internet users in Vietnam," Google policy analyst Dorothy Chou wrote in the blog. "If the regulation spreads beyond Hanoi, it will impose these vague and non-transparent restrictions on users all over the country."
It is not clear what type of software would be installed, but the blog linked to an English translation of the regulations posted by Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group with members inside Vietnam and abroad.
It said the computers must have government-approved "Internet Retailers Management Software" installed on them.
The regulations apply to all Internet retailers and businesses providing Web service, such as hotels and Internet cafes, it said.
The Vietnamese government considers Viet Tan a terrorist group, but the U.S. has said there is no evidence to support that allegation.
Vietnamese officials in Hanoi did not immediately respond to questions about the regulations on Friday. The Communist government does not tolerate any form of dissent or challenge to its one-party rule. Dozens of dissidents have been jailed for using the Internet to promote democracy.
In March, Google said the computers of "potentially tens of thousands" of Vietnamese users had been infected by malicious software that spied on them and also launched Internet attacks on sites criticizing a government-backed bauxite mining project to be built by a Chinese company in Vietnam's Central Highlands. The project...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
Dell Targets State Health Services
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73785
An expected 30 million Americans will join Medicaid and private insurance plans as a result of health-care reform signed into law by President Obama on Mar. 23. When they do, they will have to register through "health information exchanges" that the federal government requires states to set up by 2014.
Dell, the world's third-largest computer maker, has assembled a team of consultants to help U.S. states meet those mandates. On June 9, the Round Rock [Tex.) company said it has formed a state health services group to provide consulting to states as they work to comply with the legislation.
"There is not a lot of time to get these exchanges built," says Melissa Boudreault, director of state health services at Dell, who is heading the initiative. "You're going from zero to 100 in a relatively short amount of time."
The company is angling for a slice of the $386 million awarded by the government to help 40 states build the exchanges, which will include Web sites, computer systems, and telephone support for citizens enrolling in insurance plans. In all, the government has set aside almost $1 billion for advancing the use of information technology in health care, including use of electronic medical records and worker training.
Joshua Greenbaum, principal of research firm Enterprise Applications Consulting, based in Berkeley, Calif., says there's "an enormous opportunity" to connect citizens to government services by using customer management software and business applications to power agencies' Web sites. "The software for government relating to its constituents is some of the most abysmal stuff you've ever seen," he says.
Dell's effort is the fruit of its $3.6 billion acquisition of Perot Systems in November 2009, a transaction designed to help it expand in technology services and better compete with Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Perot's strengths include health care...
Tue, 15 Jun 10
The iPad: Bringing People Together?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73734
As an app developer, Bess Ho typically cuts a serious figure as she sits writing computer code into the wee hours.
But not today. Right now she looks like a crazed kid at a carnival amped up on cotton candy as she and three other programmers all stab their fingers wildly at the same iPad tablet.
"Get that mouse, but not the cheese!" she yells on stage at a recent gathering of iPad app makers here on the joint campus of eBay and PayPal.
An unofficial variation of the arcade game Whac-A-Mole, Ho and her teammates' Whack A Mouse -- one of dozens of apps created over the course of this two-day conference -- appears at a glance to be nothing more than another computer game. In reality, it's nothing less than a window into the iPad's most revolutionary feature: its ability to literally bring people together.
"There's a potential here that is just starting to be realized," says Dom Sagolla, who helped create Twitter and is founder of the iPadDevCamp, which drew nearly 350 developers from a range of states and countries to brainstorm and share code. "The question is, what is the iPad's role in a group, public setting?"
Significant, it seems. Though smartphones and laptops are typically one-on-one devices, Apple's 2-month-old baby -- which already has sold 2 million units priced at $499 to $829 -- has everyone from developers to end users gaga over what they say is a coming cultural shift in the way groups will interact with a high-tech device.
Less a computer and more a digital coffee-table book with infinite content, the iPad has rendered its technology invisible in order to spotlight information that often is meant to be shared.
"By moving the keyboard and mouse into the Stone Age, the iPad has created a new dimension of interaction with...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Leak Shows Updated Droid with Faster Processor
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73835
With the newest Apple iPhone unveiled and about to hit the market, attention is quickly turning to the next generation of another top-selling smartphone, the Verizon Wireless Droid. And in a case of history repeating itself, there are already leaked photos of the prototype.
A blog dedicated to Droid phones is displaying leaked shots of a device extremely similar to the current Motorola Droid, which premiered last November and is believed to be the fastest-selling device based on Google's Android operating system.
Sleek and black with a slide-out keyboard, the displayed phone boots up in video footage with the sci-fi-like robotic red eye that is its trademark. The screen size is still 3.7 inches, slightly bigger than the iPhone's 3.5 inches but smaller than the 4.3-inch touchscreens on the HTC EVO and Droid Incredible.
It's unclear whether the new Droid will be out in time to ship with the updated Android 2.2, expected later this year.
The most obvious external difference, noted Droid Life, is puffier, domed keys and no more trackpad. But it's inside where the big changes are, with a 750-megahertz OMAP processor, faster than the current 500 megahertz. The phone will also have eight gigabytes of internal memory, with an additional 8GB pre-installed on an SD card. The camera is five megapixels, but there's only one -- no front-facing camera for video conferencing like the iPhone 4.
No release date was suggested by the blog, but reports say it's likely to coincide with the launch of the Droid Extreme, the next version of the phone formerly known as Motorola Shadow.
Expect to hear the name Droid quite a bit, says IDC Research wireless analyst Ramon Llamas. "This is a successful series of devices between the Droid, Eris and Incredible," he said. "There's no way Verizon Wireless is going to turn off the...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Cisco Rolls Into Small-Business Storage Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73834
Cisco Systems is targeting the small-business market -- specifically companies with fewer than 100 employees -- with its latest storage product. The Cisco Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage aims to help small businesses deal with rapidly growing electronic information.
The NSS 300 Series is a desktop network storage solution that integrates business apps. Cisco's goal is to give small businesses a secure way to store and share critical business data.
But do small businesses really need a Cisco storage product? Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB research at IDC, thinks so. "Over half of small businesses expect their storage needs to increase in the next 12 months, and about a third of those expecting growth identify expanding storage capacity or improving storage management as one their top IT priorities," he said.
Cisco's NSS 300 Series offers two-bay, four-bay, and six-bay desktop network storage units. According to Cisco, the devices can provide up to 12 terabytes of capacity with two-terabyte drives.
Cisco is billing it as a single storage solution with integrated business applications, sort of a one-stop shop for storage and related apps where small-business customers can protect and share information more efficiently. Built-in applications include a user-configurable web server with an integrated WordPress publishing platform. Built-in servers work to streamline user authentication and management of the network.
On the security front, Cisco promises secure remote access while guarding against unauthorized access. Cisco accomplishes this through on-disk data encryption. That means even if the hard drives are stolen, critical data is protected. Most small-business storage solutions don't offer this feature.
The network attached storage devices also make way for small businesses to schedule power on/off according to working hours. It also conserves power with an Energy Star V-rated power adapter and hard drives that spin down on inactivity.
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Twitter Buys Smallthought To Help Analyze Tweets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73832
As part of its growing quest to analyze those countless tweet streams, Twitter announced Thursday that it has purchased Smallthought Systems. The Vancouver, British Columbia, startup makes the Dabble DB online database and the Trendly Internet analytics tool. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
On the company's blog, Kevin Weil, the Twitter analytics lead, posted Thursday that his company had maintained a relationship with Smallthought ever since using Dabble to track and share internal project information. He added that Twitter was one of the first companies to try Trendly, which allows sites to analyze information in Google Analytics data. In addition, since Twitter is what Weil described as the "world's largest Ruby on Rails-based web service," the contributions of the Smallthought development team to the Ruby and Smalltalk communities impressed the larger company.
Weil said Smallthought joins Twitter's analytics team and will "focus on integrating ideas from Trendly into our current tools" and building "innovative real-time products for our future commercial partners."
He described the company's team as a "unique combination of entrepreneurship, creativity and analytics expertise." The key team members will be moving in the fall to San Francisco.
On its web site, Smallthought posted that "operations of both its Dabble DB service and technical support will continue as usual until further notice," although it will no longer be accepting new sign-ups for accounts. If the service is terminated, it said, customers will get at least 60 days' notice.
Smallthought promotes Dabble DB as a way to port data in spreadsheets into Dabble DB, and then do structured searches and other organizing and calculating operations. Data can also be displayed in a wide variety of ways, such as a map view to present visualized versions of the data.
In announcing the sale on its site, Smallthought described the Twitter company environment...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Adobe Patch Fixes Major Security Flaw in Flash Player
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73831
Responding to a major security flaw in its Flash Player, Adobe Systems released a large patch Thursday. A security bulletin published on the company's web site recommends that users of Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions on Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris update to version 10.1.53.64.
To determine which Flash Player version you are running, the company recommends going to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/, or right-clicking on Flash content in the browser and selecting About Adobe Flash Player.
The bulletin also advises that users of Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier versions should update to AIR 2.0.2.12610. Users of Flash Professional CS5, CS4 Professional, and Flex 4 are encouraged to update to 10.1.53.64, and Flash CS3 Professional and Flex 3 users should download 9.0.277.0.
The updates address more than 30 identified vulnerabilities, first made public earlier this month. A security firm, Websense, has said the vulnerability could be exploited by web sites that contain malicious software, which might be used to remotely control users' computers.
Adobe said it expects to release an update toward the end of this month for its Reader and Acrobat programs, for which it has also identified security problems. Adobe said the affected component is the authplay.dll that accompanies Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.3.2 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows, Mac and Unix. Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x appear to be unaffected.
An Adobe advisory last week had noted that "deleting, renaming or removing access to the authplay.dll file mitigates the threat," resulting in a "non-exploitable crash or error message" when a PDF file with Flash content is opened.
Adobe said the authplay.dll that comes with Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x for Windows is usually installed at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\authplay.dll for Adobe Reader or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\authplay.dll for Acrobat.
...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
FBI Probes 'Public Service' Hacking of iPad Addresses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73830
In more embarrassment for AT&T, the Federal Bureau of Investigations is looking into the brute-force attack on Apple iPad users. The FBI contacted Gawker Media and instructed the company to retain any relevant documents related to a possible security breach of AT&T's web site.
Goatse Security, a nine-person hacking group, admitted to harvesting 114,000 e-mail addresses of iPad customers, including those of high-level execs, military personnel, and politicians.
On Wednesday, AT&T admitted to a security hole in its web site that exposed iPad users to the breach. Now the FBI wants more information. The FBI told The Wall Street Journal that it is "very early" in an investigation into "possible computer intrusions."
Goatse is now on the defensive. The company's blog insists the disclosure needed to be made. iPad 3G users had the right to know their e-mail addresses were potentially public knowledge so they can take steps to mitigate the issue, such as changing their e-mail address, Goatse said. The company went so far as to say that its hack was done "in service to the American public."
"Anyways, there was no illegal activity or unauthorized access; this was not a shady backroom hookers and blow deal with Nick Denton as revenge for the iPhone raid (though that would be totally sweet), we did not sell your data to spammers (on the contrary, we destroyed it after Ryan used it; it had served its purpose to us) and we did not try to hack your iPads," Goatse said. "Your iPads are safer now because of us."
Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, isn't buying Goatse's story. Because the group took confidential, personal information to the press rather than concealing it and working with AT&T directly, the hacker group gave up its moral high ground, he said.
"I'm not surprised the...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Marketers Battle for World Cup Online buzz
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73821
World Cup sponsors are tussling in a virtual battlefield to be the social-media marketing star of the global soccer championship beginning [Friday] in Johannesburg.
But the early "winner" in buzz is Nike, neither a World Cup sponsor nor partner of the sport's governing body, FIFA.
Social-media monitoring firm Meltwater Buzz looked at online buzz May 24 through Thursday for 11 top sponsors, partners and other key marketers and found outsider Nike had 26% vs. 20 percent for Adidas, a FIFA partner, and 11 percent for Sony, also a partner.
Credit Nike's "Write the Future" soccer ad that launched May 20 on Facebook, says spokesman Derek Kent. It's had 14 million YouTube views.
For big-spending marketers who rely upon social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to economically create brand buzz fast, the importance of successfully riding the wave of global events such as the quadrennial World Cup can't be overstated. "It's a unique opportunity to tie your brand to the greatest sporting event in the world -- in real time," says social-media consultant Jay Baer. "So much in social media is about brevity, which lends itself perfectly to soccer."
Cup social-media plans:
*Adidas. In the U.S., the brand is using Facebook feeds from non-soccer sports stars such as auto racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. "We'll tap the U.S. sports fans' passion and get them to engage with the World Cup via athletes they relate to," says Molly Maixner, brand marketing manager for Adidas soccer.
*Coca-Cola. Rather than trying to get people onto its own Web site, Coke joins them at its YouTube site. "Consumers want to stay in their preferred channels," says Prinz Pinakatt, interactive marketing manager. "Instead of pulling people to where we are, we're going where they are."
*Visa. Social media will be the focus of Visa's U.S. World Cup marketing, says Jennifer Bazante, global sponsorship...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Hackers Attack South Korea Government Web Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73810
South Korea said Thursday that a government Web site was the target of a hacking attack from computers in China and began an inquiry into the incident.
The four-hour attack Wednesday night was directed from about 120 Internet servers from China, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said.
Widespread damage was avoided, but traffic on the Web site that contains information on government policy and services was severely slowed down, the ministry said.
The cyberraid was a so-called distributed denial of service attack, in which a large number of computers bombard a Web site with queries to overload and crash it.
The attacks came at a time when South Korea is worried about cyberattacks from North Korea in the wake of an international investigation that found a North Korean torpedo had sunk a South Korean warship in March. Seoul, which filed a complaint against its neighbor over the sinking with the UN Security Council, blamed Pyongyang for the attack, but North Korea denied involvement.
In July, days of hacking attacks brought government Web sites in South Korea and the United States to a standstill. South Korea's intelligence chief accused North Korea of carrying out those attacks from servers in China.
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Samsung Invests $3.6 Billion in Texas Chip Plant
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73808
Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that due to projected heavy demand for its advanced logic chips the South Korean company will invest $3.6 billion to expand capacity at its plant in Austin, Texas, and hire 500 more workers there by 2011.
Samsung will raise its employee count at the facility to 1,500 from 1,000 by next year, boosting annual payroll to about $105 million. The expansion, which builds out the second phase of its 2.3 million-square-foot complex, will bring its total investment in the Austin plant to more than $9 billion.
Most of the new employees with be engineers and technicians. In addition, the company said almost 3,000 construction workers and equipment vendors will move in and set up the machinery. The plant will build advanced logic devices for Samsung's system large-scale integration business and continue to make NAND flash memory chips, which are used in consumer electronics such as digital cameras, thumb drives and MP3 players.
"Forty-five nanometer and below advanced logic applications are in high demand and respective markets are expected to show substantial growth in the coming years," said Stephen Woo, executive vice president and general manager of Samsung's System LSI division.
Samsung expects the facility will be operational by the second quarter of next year.
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Google Wants China Web Censorship Crackdown
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73807
Google Inc.'s top lawyer says the world's leading search engine is asking the U.S. and European governments to press China to lift Internet censorship, describing it as an unfair barrier to free trade.
David Drummond told reporters Wednesday that western states should defend the free trade in information with the same kind of rules that they use to complain of China's below-cost sale of products.
He said government talks are "the only way that it's going to change, that this tide of censorship or this rising censorship is going to be arrested."
The company sparred with Chinese leaders earlier this year when it stopped self-censoring its search results in line with Chinese rules after it said Chinese hackers had tried to plunder its software coding and hijack the Gmail accounts of human rights activists.
Since late March, Google has been redirecting search requests from mainland China to Hong Kong, which doesn't have the same restrictions.
"The cyber attack was sort of the final straw because we felt that it was increasingly hard to do business there in accordance with our values," Drummond said, describing the company as in danger of becoming "part of the same apparatus" of Chinese state censorship.
"Censorship, in addition to being a human rights problem, is a trade barrier," he said. "If you look at what China does -- the censorship, of course, is for political purposes but it is also used as a way of keeping multinational companies disadvantaged in the market."
"It should be obvious that the Internet sector is very important to the west and so we should be working on seeing that that kind of trade is protected," he said.
Drummond would not comment on whether he believed the United States could take a case under World Trade Organization rules against China, which can ultimately allow the U.S. to seek...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
Google Under Fire in New Zealand Over Data Collection
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73805
New Zealand police said Thursday they are investigating whether Google committed a criminal offense when it gathered personal wireless Internet data during filming for its Street View feature in New Zealand.
Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected data from public WiFi networks in more than 30 countries, including New Zealand. The admission has sparked fears that Google intercepted personal e-mails, passwords, personal banking details and even web browsing histories at home addresses.
New Zealand's Crimes Act makes it an offense to intercept data.
Assistant Privacy Commissioner Katrine Evans said earlier the commission had formally referred the issue to police.
"They can consider whether Google has committed a criminal offense by collecting payload data from WiFi networks during its Street View filming," she said in a statement following a meeting with police officials.
Police spokesman John Neilson said the police national cyber crime center was investigating the complaint to determine "whether any criminality has been committed."
Law firm Taylor Shaw privacy specialist Kathryn Dalziel said it would be a breach of the Crimes Act if Google was found to have intercepted any communication.
"This will create an interesting issue in terms of international law, since the company is based outside of New Zealand," she said.
Penalties of fines and imprisonment can be imposed for breaches of the Crimes Act.
Google New Zealand spokeswoman Annie Baxter said in an e-mail the company was "profoundly sorry" for the mistake and that the data collection would have been limited by the fact that the Google cars "were on the move."
Internet users would have needed to be using their network as a car passed their house.
"Our in-car WiFi equipment automatically changes channels five times a second. That said, it's possible that the fragments of data we collected could contain entire e-mails or other content if a user broadcast personal information over an...
Sat, 12 Jun 10
EU Takes Swipe Against 'Proprietary' Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73803
The European Union's top Internet official took aim at Microsoft Corp. on Thursday, warning that governments can accidentally lock themselves into one company's software for decades by setting it as a standard for their technology systems.
EU Internet Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in her previous post as EU antitrust chief, fined Microsoft hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in a lengthy row over the company's refusal to share some data with rivals and the tying of a Web browser to a best-selling operating system.
She now says she wants to draw up detailed guidelines for European governments to encourage them to require other software, especially programs based on open source code that is freely shared between developers.
The final programs are sometimes -- but not always -- given away to users. IBM and Oracle, for example, charge customers for some software they make that is based on open source code.
Kroes is aiming to influence government tender specifications which can demand all suppliers to the state to stick to a certain type of technology. This can have a massive impact by favoring one company's software over others.
She cited tax departments requiring the use of a specific Web browser to file online tax returns.
"Many authorities have found themselves unintentionally locked into proprietary technology for decades and after a certain point that original choice becomes so ingrained that alternatives risk being systematically ignored," she said.
"That's a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford," she told a conference organized by Open Forum Europe, a group of technology companies that want to promote software based on open source code.
She openly favored open software saying users could choose between "the one that you can download from the Web site and that you can implement without restrictions or the other one which you have to buy...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Sony Releases PS3 Content To Boost Sales of 3-D TVs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73820
Sony Computer Entertainment and its sister company, Sony Electronics, will take a giant leap into the 3-D gaming market Friday as it unleashes stereoscopic games that take advantage of a PlayStation 3 firmware update from April. While the gaming platform has been 3-D-ready since then, Sony did not release content until now, and the company is hoping its game console will boost sales of its new Bravia 3-D TVs.
The new 3-D content announced by Sony on its official PlayStation blog Thursday are WipEout HD, a futuristic racing game; Super Stardust HD, a space battle game; and new content for the 2007 game PAIN, which allows players to fling their avatars into objects with a catapult. There is also a 3-D demo for a single-player race game, MotorStorm Pacific Rift.
The 3D-capable Bravia is available now for pre-order online and will ship to retailers later this month. The cost ranges from $2,099 for a 40-inch set to $4,999 for a 60-inch set. The most expensive model comes with two pairs of active-shutter glasses and a 3-D transmitter, which must be purchased separately for cheaper models.
Sony's pairing of PlayStation with Bravia seems to put the company in a strong position at a time when 3-D TVs command big price tags for relatively little benefit. While ESPN plans to air the World Cup in 3-D, current programming is sporadic.
"What we're seeing is that 3-D TV is gaining in popularity, but lack of content will be an issue," said Jason Blackwell, head of the digital home division at ABI Research. "Sony has the TVs, the Blu-ray players, and then the PS3s as an add-on to generate additional sales and content." With a firmware update, Sony's Blu-ray players will be 3-D capable.
Since the 3-D content on PS3 is useless without a 3-D TV,...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Oracle Refreshes Enterprise Content Management Suite
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73819
Oracle took the wraps off a refreshed Enterprise Content Management Suite this week to boost competition against rival middleware offerings from EMC, IBM and Open Text. The ECM Suite 11g update provides an end-to-end solution covering imaging and the web, as well as document and records management, the company said.
With ECM Suite 11g, Oracle is providing a unified infrastructure to help companies and organizations across multiple industries maximize their content management, reduce costs, and improve security, according to Oracle Vice President Andy MacMillan.
"Organizations need a comprehensive enterprise content management solution that is integrated into their business processes and fits with the way they work," MacMillan said. "With Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite 11g, we meet those demands while delivering the performance and scalability needed to support the most complex and demanding enterprise content management environments."
Oracle's goal is to help enterprises boost efficiency, improve business processes, and simplify management with "complete and comprehensive" ECM, MacMillan said. "What we mean by that is we have a unified, single content management" end-to-end solution for "web content, digital asset management, imaging, records management, and integrated in that unified way into the launch of different applications," MacMillan added.
ECM Suite 11g's updated universal content management (UCM) component provides businesses with a unified platform for managing web content, documents and other digital assets. Featuring built-in retention enhancements, the platform is designed "to make content management a better fit for where you work," MacMillan said
For example, the next-generation desktop integration capabilities promise to increase efficiency by giving enterprise executives access to work-flow information and saved searches via Microsoft Windows Explorer. Oracle also noted that this updated component will give corporate workers the ability to edit managed content, compare managed documents, and insert managed links directly from Microsoft Office.
Suite 11g's updated...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Analyst Thinks T-Mobile Will Get iPhone Before Verizon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73818
With the clock running on AT&T's exclusive contract for U.S. distribution of Apple's iPhone, Verizon Wireless has more than once expressed interest in becoming the carrier partner. But a new report suggests that T-Mobile could be next in line.
In a report issued Thursday, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu said his sources indicate that an iPhone distributed through a carrier other than AT&T is "becoming closer to reality than ever," and it could happen "as early as this fall" or the first half of next year. He added that, when the expansion does take place, the popular device is more likely to be offered by T-Mobile than Verizon.
A key to his logic is T-Mobile's network. Both AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G utilize UMTS/HSPA technology, but Verizon's is CDMA.
Wu wrote that "both the new iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS support 3G at the 2100-MHz frequency and, from our understanding, the technical hurdle to support T-Mobile is minor compared to supporting CDMA technology" at Verizon.
Apple COO Tim Cook has dismissed the idea that his company would develop a CDMA phone, saying the technology is being phased out. But Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg has also said his company will be phasing out CDMA as it moves to next-generation 4G LTE, or Long-Term Evolution, technology.
Verizon is expected to launch LTE in at least 20 markets this year, and there has been speculation that an iPhone would be designed for that technology. LTE is also expected to be launched by AT&T and T-Mobile, among others.
There have been reports that Apple and Verizon were in negotiations about the iPhone as early as 2005, but the device maker's demands for control and revenue sharing -- including, at the time, a share of the carrier's monthly service fee -- were too much for Verizon. Since then,...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Feds Eye Apple's Rules on iPhone Mobile Advertising
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73817
Google's not the only one eyeing Apple these days. Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice may dig into whether Apple is shutting out Google and Microsoft in iPhone advertising.
The news comes from the Financial Times in a Thursday article that cites two people familiar with the matter. It's not clear whether federal regulators will launch an official investigation into Apple's practices. Apple wasn't immediately available for comment.
"It seems aggressive and anticompetitive, so I can see why [U.S. regulators] are considering an investigation," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "But the FTC seems to be investigating almost everything going on on the Internet right now."
Apple plans to debut its iAd mobile advertising network on July 1 on iPhone and iPod touch devices that run its iOS 4 software platform. Apple's announcement did not list the iPad. Companies like AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup, Chanel, Unilever, Geico, GE and Target are among the first to advertise on the new platform.
In total, Apple already has iAd commitments for 2010 of more than $60 million. That represents almost 50 percent of the total forecast U.S. mobile-ad spending for the second half of 2010, according to JP Morgan.
iAd lets users stay within an app they are using and still engage with an advertisement, even while watching a video, playing a game, or using in-ad purchase to download an app or buying digital media. Developers who join the iAd Network can incorporate a variety of advertising formats into their apps. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive an industry-standard 60 percent of the iAd Network revenue.
"iAd is going to revolutionize mobile advertising," said Rob Master, North American media director for Unilever. "With iAd, we've been able to create some of our...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
PTA, Facebook Will Promote Responsible Net Use
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73815
In the wake of controversy about its privacy policies, Facebook is teaming up with the National PTA to teach children, parents and teachers about responsible Internet use. The partnership was announced Thursday at the PTA's national convention in Memphis.
The collaboration will create a comprehensive program that will reside on both web sites, and will include such subjects as cyber-bullying, Net safety, and "online citizenship." The National PTA said it will actively reach out to its 24,000 local PTAs to reach every public school in the country. Facebook is committing an in-kind contribution valued at $1 million for promotion on its site.
The partnership, said National PTA President Charles J. Saylors, will "provide parents all across the nation with the knowledge, tools and resources they need to keep their children safe" in a technological society.
The initiative will involve child safety, education and technology experts in the creation of "a comprehensive set of multimedia education resources" utilizing many of the experts called upon by Facebook when it relaunched its Safety Center.
Although Facebook, MySpace and similar sites require users to be at least 13, younger children commonly join, since age is easy to falsify. A study by the Pew Research Center earlier this year found that nearly 40 percent of 12-to-14-year-olds had a profile on Facebook or a similar site. A report released this week by the PTA found that online literacy isn't taught in many schools.
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with Current Analysis, said the collaboration with Facebook doesn't seem to indicate "any major shift in policy or a new makeover" by Facebook. He noted that PTA-based programs often end up being targeted more at parents than children, but that ultimately it's the users who have the most control over whether they find themselves "in harm's way."
Children's safety in online...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
AT&T Fixes 'Overblown' Leak of iPad E-Mail Addresses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73814
The iPad was the target of a brute-force attack that harvested 114,000 e-mail addresses of iPad customers. High-level execs, military personnel, and politicians were among those affected.
On Wednesday, AT&T admitted to a security hole in its web site that exposed iPad users to the breach. "This issue was escalated to the highest levels of the company and was corrected by Tuesday; and we have essentially turned off the feature that provided the e-mail addresses," the company said.
The good news for AT&T customers, if there is any, is that it wasn't a malicious hacker trying to steal their personal identities. Goatse Security, a nine-person hacking group, is claiming responsibility for the brute-force intrusion.
"Effectively the hackers found a vulnerability on AT&T's web site which allowed them to bombard the site with requests, posing as iPad users," explained Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos. "By changing the code that they sent each time, they were eventually able to find some legitimate codes and get AT&T's web site to reveal the associated e-mail address."
Apple hasn't publicly commented, but Cluley said the blame lies squarely on of AT&T. He's glad to hear that the carrier has fixed the problem. As he sees it, Apple will be "annoyed" that the story received so much attention in the media. But Apple could not have prevented the hack.
Praetorian Security Group obtained a copy of the PHP script Goatse used to gather the e-mail addresses from AT&T servers. The company said the brute-force attack worked because AT&T used poorly designed software.
"There's no hack, no infiltration, and no breach, just a really poorly designed web application that returns an e-mail address when ICC-ID is passed to it," Praetorian said in a blog post. An ICC-ID, or Integrated Circuit Card Identifier, is a unique number assigned...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Can CEOs Find the Same Success in Politics?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73812
Top companies such as Goldman Sachs, BP and Toyota all are enduring worst-in-their-history crises. Yet, this backdrop of multi-industry failure didn't prevent a pair of former chief executives-turned-California politicians from emerging Wednesday as the latest signs of a voter backlash against politics as usual.
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who wants to be California's governor, and ex-Hewlett-Packard boss Carly Fiorina, chosen to contest a U.S. Senate seat, both won their Republican primaries late Tuesday. They became the latest candidates hoping to parlay corner-office savvy into political success.
"Confidence in business may be very low, but confidence in government above the local level is even lower," says Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
In the modern era, at least since Ross Perot's 1992 presidential bid, CEO candidates have appealed to voters craving decisive leadership, accountability and a record of tangible accomplishment. California's fiscal train wreck has only made bottom-line brio more attractive.
But the track record of such candidates in office has been mixed. For every New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who's spruced up the Big Apple, there's a Jon Corzine, the ex-Goldman Sachs billionaire who failed in his re-election bid for New Jersey governor.
Business leaders can bring to public office financial acumen. But executives accustomed to giving orders and having them executed often get frustrated by the political world's imperative for consultation and consensus. "The skills needed are definitely different, because you don't have the ability to act fairly unilaterally in government that you do in business," Kanter says.
The transition can be even more bracing for executives who become one among many lawmakers. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who founded the cellular phone company that became Nextel before becoming Virginia's governor in 2002, says it took him about a year to get comfortable with the different demands and slower...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Smartphones Offer New Frontier for Identity Theft
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73787
As more people switch from traditional cell phones to smart phones, worries have increased that users will fall prey to the same virus and malware problems that can plague personal computers.
In fact, industry experts say they're managing to keep ahead of that threat.
What they are more worried about is a simpler issue: identity theft when a phone is lost or stolen.
With the iPhone and other smart phones, a few taps or clicks can access e-mail accounts, check bank balances, update a Facebook profile and call up calendars and photos.
"What's really going on today is fraudsters and cybercriminals are looking to steal data," said Peter Beardmore, director of product marketing at security company Kaspersky Lab. "A mobile phone is not a good candidate for a botnet like you have in the PC world, where it can enslave your computer and let it do work to send spam or whatever. But (a mobile phone) is a great candidate to steal user data from."
In one of the most recent high-profile cases of a lost smart phone, a young Apple employee left a prototype of the next-generation iPhone on a Redwood City, Calif., barstool in March. The company remotely wiped the phone by the next morning, but not before the patron who found the abandoned device identified its owner by looking at his Facebook page, which was on the phone's display.
Although concerns about mobile malware and viruses have circulated in industry circles for years, there have been few reports of real threats to consumers.
That's in part because infection is a numbers game, meaning perpetrators go after devices in mass quantities, and there are far more PCs in circulation than smart phones.
Wireless carriers in the U.S. also catch some threats, such as spam text messages, before they reach consumers.
"What we've been able to do is...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
New Economic Sparks Could Surprise Us
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73786
The U.S. economy is slowly reviving, leaving behind with each passing month the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It goes without saying that an expanding economy is better than a contracting one, but the consensus outlook is far from cheery. Instead, it calls for years of muted growth and high unemployment.
It isn't hard to find pessimism that runs much deeper. The European sovereign-debt crisis is stoking fears that the heavily indebted American Empire is slouching toward a Greece-like fiscal calamity. The nation's opinion pages are full of warning that the U.S. may be increasingly caught in what Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson calls the "fatal arithmetic of imperial decline" with a federal deficit at a post-World War II record 9 percent of gross domestic product and a national debt at $13 trillion and climbing.
Taken altogether, from fears of toxic sovereign debts to a euro contagion to a growing federal Leviathan, all the risks appear to be on the downside.
Yet the gloom may be way overdone, as the seeds of economic revival may be sown in some unexpected places. By now you've probably heard of the "Black Swan." The provocative catchphrase comes from a best-selling book by author and investor Nassim Nicholas Taleb. A black swan is essentially an unpredictable outlier event that has a dramatic impact on the economy and society. It gives lie to the elegant quantitative and mathematical models most experts use to predict the future course of the financial markets and economy. It's almost comforting to know that the surprising twists of history can fool even the most highly regarded financial and academic eminences.
Black swans are popularly considered negative events, largely because the fearsome global credit crunch -- missed by most mainstream forecasters -- made many investors appreciate the phenomenon.
Yet there's nothing intrinsically bad...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Lax Password Protection Invites Hackers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73784
The results of two recent computer security polls show too many of us are doing a poor job securing our password-protected data.
With a typical computer user routinely accessing a dozen or more password-protected sites -- from media to entertainment to financial sites -- Symantec, the diagnostic and security software firm, found nearly half the respondents reuse a handful of passwords for all of their accounts. If one account is hacked, the culprit can use the same password to enter some of the user's other sites as well.
Some 63 percent of us change our passwords infrequently, which is contrary to the recommended practice of routinely changing passwords to keep would-be hackers at bay.
And the security firm Imperva found that users are making poor choices when selecting passwords that act as barriers to sensitive sites. Among the bad practices:
* About 30 percent are using six or fewer characters in passwords, greatly increasing the odds of successful hacking.
* About 50 percent used names, common words or "lazy" passwords such as adjacent letters (e.g. "qwerty") or numeric strings (e.g. 777777). Most security experts suggest that passwords not contain any construction that can be found in a dictionary, lest automated code-breakers drill through a database of words (including names) until they score a hit.
* Among the most common passwords used: "Password," "123456" and pet names such as "Fluffy."
Folks, if your password is Fluffy, here's a suggestion: Why not just hand over all your savings to me?
The dilemma facing security-conscious computer users is that while you want to use as tough a password as possible, you don't want it to be so obscure that you forget it a minute after you create it.
The password gPq#2m1+]X5e is a wonderfully powerful one that will tax the most skillful of hackers; but it is not terribly easy to remember,...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
Allscripts Buying Healthcare Info Rival Eclipsys
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73780
The health care information technology company Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. is buying rival Eclipsys Corp. for about $1.3 billion in stock, the companies said Wednesday.
Allscripts is a leader in providing physicians and their offices with ways to keep tabs on patient care records while Eclipsys provides similar services for hospitals and health systems. Those records include test results and medical histories.
The combined company's client base will include over 180,000 U.S. physicians, 1,500 hospitals, and nearly 10,000 nursing homes, hospices and home care organizations, the companies said.
The combined company's increased size and resources may also give its clients greater access to about $30 billion in federal funding for hospital and physician adoption of electronic health records as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the companies said. The incentives, which aim to shift the health care system to more efficient portable electronic records from paper records, begin in 2011.
"For the first time, we have a company with the size, scale and reach to allow that to happen, said Allscripts Chairman and CEO Glen Tullman, citing the shift to electronic records. "Think of this as doing what the Internet did for computers."
Adoption of electronic records by physicians is projected to grow from 12 percent to 90 percent by 2019, the companies said, citing a Congressional Budget Office's March 2009 report. That same report said total spending on health care services would shrink because of the reduction in paperwork and inappropriate tests, along with lower administrative overhead. The report did not provide an estimate, but said there would likely be lower costs for private payers and lower health insurance premiums in the private sector.
Under the deal, Eclipsys shareholders will receive 1.2 Allscripts shares for each Eclipsys share, a 19 percent premium over its closing price Tuesday, the companies said.
Shares of Allscripts, based...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
World Cup Coverage Expands on the Web, Cell Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73779
With games airing live on cell phones and computers, the World Cup will get more online coverage than any major sporting event yet. Watching highlights the next day on TV or YouTube will suddenly seem a downright ancient way to keep up with the action.
When the soccer tournament begins Friday, footy fans can follow the action from an array of mobile and Web applications and share in triumph and heartbreak across social media.
Walt Disney Co. networks ESPN and ABC, which are broadcasting the games in the U.S., will stream 54 games live on the newly launched ESPN3.com, formerly ESPN360. The games are free to those in the U.S. who get their Internet from a service provider affiliated with ESPN, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and many others. The 10 games that will air live on ABC won't be available on ESPN3.com, but all 64 matches in the Cup will be available live on mobile devices to customers whose plans include TV on their phones.
Univision Communications has the Spanish-language broadcasting rights in the U.S., and it, too, will have games available on Univision.com and Univision Movil.
The digital coverage will be an especially important component for the World Cup because U.S. audiences will be watching many of the games -- all being played in South Africa -- during the day, possibly on their computers at work.
Comparing the digital experiences of the 2010 World Cup to the 2006 World Cup, John Kosner, senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Digital Media, said, "Things have changed utterly."
"This is going to be the biggest and most powerful demonstration of this, and it's just the start," Kosner said. "It's the play book, it's the blueprint for what's coming."
NBC's online coverage of the last Winter Olympics -- also an international, daytime event -- was extensive, drawing 45...
Fri, 11 Jun 10
The Force Is With New GPS Units
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73777
Garmin's new Nuvi 3790T GPS device is thinner than an iPhone, has a beautiful 5-inch LCD screen, can run traffic directions in 3-D, and easily slips into your pocket, making it perfect for use in the car or while walking.
It's arguably the coolest-looking GPS navigation device to date. But analysts who cover the two biggest navigation device companies, Garmin and TomTom, aren't sure that's enough. Within a few years, they contend, the GPS device will be overtaken by GPS apps in smartphones. Several models of phones with Google's Android operating system now have free turn-by-turn directions. And many apps are available for the iPhone to add turn-by-turn directions at a cost that rivals the purchase of a stand-alone device.
So should consumers still invest in GPS portable navigation devices? The manufacturers say reports of their potential demise are farfetched, and they're working hard to reinvent GPS with new models.
Take, for instance, Garmin's 3790T. It's meant for the car -- but not always. "It's for driving or walking," Garmin Chief Financial Officer Kevin Rauckman says.
The new Nuvi will surely turn heads. But at $450, the price is much steeper than average for a GPS unit ($146 as of April, according to NPD group, down from $178 the year before).
Rival TomTom is reaching for the cost-conscious consumer with novelties. TomTom brought custom voices, including Burt Reynolds, Mr. T and Homer Simpson, to its line of GPS devices this year. Now it has matched forces with Darth Vader.
The villain from the Star Wars movies will tell you to turn left or right and that he's recalculating if you make a wrong turn, on devices that begin at $99. Later this summer, additional Stars Wars voices -- including C-3PO and Han Solo -- will be available, at $14.99 a pop.
Beyond voices, TomTom, No. 1 worldwide...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Twitter Will Screen and Shorten URLs Used in Tweets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73797
In a bid to root out malware, viruses and phishing -- and add some convenience -- social-media giant Twitter announced Wednesday that it will begin automatically screening and shortening URLs in tweets. That will allow the link to be identified so Twitter followers will know where they are clicking to, rather than just see a random jumble of letters and numbers.
Twitter users have had to go to a third-party site like TinyURL.com or Bit.ly to shorten the web address they want to include and then paste it in, unless they are using the more advanced Tweet Deck software, which allows automatic shortening.
Twitter in March began automatically routing links included in direct messages through a screening system to detect and intercept threats, with those messages picking up a twt.tl URL tag. Those URLs reported to Twitter as malicious were blacklisted and recipients warned. The next step was to extend that process to all tweets.
Twitter announced at its Chirp developer conference in April that it wanted to make it easier to shorten URLs within Twitter,
"To meet both of these goals, we're taking small steps to expand the link service currently available in direct messages to links shared through all tweets," the company said on its official blog. "We're testing this link service now with a few Twitter employee accounts." Ultimately, the change will "contribute to the metrics behind our Promoted Tweets platform and provide an important quality signal for our resonance algorithm -- the way we determine if a tweet is relevant and interesting to users."
Links to specific articles or sections of a web site tend to be far longer than just the site URL because they contain information such as date of publication, title of an article, and other code. Because tweets are limited to 140 characters,...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
AdMob Cries Foul as Apple Changes iPhone Ad Rules
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73796
AdMob is protesting new rules proposed by Apple this week to bar ads on the iPhone except those from Apple's new iAd program or from pure-play mobile-ad networks such as Jumptap and Millennial Media. The Google division said companies with competitive mobile technologies and any company whose primary business is not serving mobile ads will no longer be able to run campaigns on the iPhone.
The stakes for AdMob are enormous. It reported that Apple's iPhone was the world's top smartphone for mobile ads in April, hosting 41.6 percent of all ad requests, followed by Motorola's Droid at 7.3 percent.
While the new rules pose a major threat to Apple's advertising rivals, AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui stressed that the changes also threaten to decrease -- or even eliminate -- revenue that helps support tens of thousands of developers.
"The terms hurt both large and small developers by severely limiting their choice of how best to make money," Hamoui wrote in a blog. "And because advertising funds a huge number of free and low-cost apps, these terms are bad for consumers as well."
In the history of technology and innovation, it's clear that competition delivers the best outcome, Hamoui wrote. "Artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress," he added.
Still, it's no great surprise that Apple is seeking to promote its own iAd business at AdMob's expense. Hamoui's opinion that the move spells bad news for users and developers likewise needs to be seen in the same competitive context.
By appealing to developers, Hamoui hopes to capitalize on the fact that AdMob has helped app creators make money, regardless of whether the platform was the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, Windows, or others. "In the past four years, AdMob has helped tens of thousands of...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Sprint Admits Error in HTC EVO 4G First Day Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73795
Sprint Nextel had a great first day of sales of its highly visible, Android-based HTC EVO 4G smartphone -- but not quite as good as originally announced. On Tuesday, the carrier acknowledged that it made a mistake in stating that the sales of the first 3G/4G phone in the U.S. had been three times the Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre's combined sales over three days.
As it turned out, Sprint said, "we inadvertently erred in the comparison." Nevertheless, the sales were nothing to sneeze at. On its June 4 launch day, the carrier said the EVO 4G moved the "largest quantity of a single phone sold in one day ever for Sprint." The previous record holders were both the Instinct and the Pre.
The numbers haven't yet been released, but some analysts are estimating about 150,000 units were sold over the first weekend.
The actual comparative stats are that the launch-day sales for the EVO 4G were six times that of the Instinct's launch day, and twice the Pre's. Regardless of the initial miscommunication, the company indicated it is quite happy with the response. "HTC EVO 4G has more than lived up to our expectations that it would be one of the most anticipated technology products of the year," said Sprint Senior Vice President Kevin Packingham.
The company had reported thousands of customers lined up for hours, a la the iPhone's launch day, when the EVO 4G went on sale last Friday. Sales were so high that temporary shortages were reported at some of Sprint's 22,000 sales locations, which included its retail stores; retailers like Radio Shack, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart; and indirect dealers.
Many reviews have praised the new device, although there is also heated discussion online about the relative virtues of the EVO 4G compared...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Caffeine Shifts Google's Search Results Into Overdrive
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73792
Google on Tuesday unveiled a new web indexing system that promises 50 percent faster search results. Dubbed Caffeine, the new index will also offer the largest collection of web content Google has ever offered.
Here's a little search engine 101: When you conduct a search you aren't actually searching the live web. You are searching an index of the web. It's sort of like the list in the back of a book that points to the specific information you are looking for.
Google software engineer Carrie Grimes said Google is launching Caffeine to keep up with the evolution of the web and to meet rising user expectations. In a nutshell, Google is promising its users will find news stories, blogs, forum posts, and other relevant content sooner after it's published with Caffeine.
"Content on the web is blossoming. It's growing not just in size and numbers, but with the advent of video, images, news and real-time updates, the average web page is richer and more complex," she said. "In addition, people's expectations for search are higher than they used to be. Searchers want to find the latest relevant content and publishers expect to be found the instant they publish."
Google's old index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others. For example, the main layer would update every couple of weeks. In order to refresh a layer of the old index, Google had to analyze the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when Google found a page and made it available to searchers.
"With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis globally," Grimes said. "As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Patch Tuesday Highlights Dangers of Digital Media
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73791
Microsoft released 10 security bulletins to address 34 individual vulnerabilities in June's Patch Tuesday. The patches include fixes for critical flaws in DirectShow and Internet Explorer. Seven patches are rated important.
"The impact will be felt enterprise-wide, as the bulletins cover a large portion of Microsoft's range of operating systems, infrastructure products, and Office products, so it is strongly suggested that IT administrators investigate and prioritize this patch load as soon as possible," said Don Leatham, director of solutions & strategy at Lumension.
MS10-033 addresses two vulnerabilities in Windows that could lead to remote code execution. This bulletin affects Windows Media, which is very common with popular social-media networking applications. Opening a specially crafted media file or connecting to a malicious server streaming media content can lead to remote code execution.
"The days of solely focusing on Internet browsers for patching have changed and Microsoft is very focused on fixing vulnerabilities in their media formats and players. As we move toward a media-centric audience, attackers are focusing more and more on media players to go along with browser attacks," said Jason Miller, data and security team manager at Shavlik Technologies.
"I can guarantee that someone on your network, right now, is browsing the Internet looking for a video with Tom Cruise's Tropic Thunder character Les Grossman's dance routine from the MTV Movie Awards, and there's a good chance one of those video files has been compromised," Miller said.
But there is good news, according to Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle. Critical bugs are still being found in IE8 and Windows 7, but they are harder to exploit because of Microsoft's mitigation technologies. "The underlying bugs are still there," he said, "but IE protected mode, Windows DEP and ASLR make them far less attractive to...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Microsoft Fights Google Apps with Free Office Web Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73790
If you never thought you'd live to see the day when Microsoft gave away its key Microsoft Office applications for free, congratulations on your longevity. On Tuesday night, the software giant made stripped-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote available on the web, following an extensive beta phase.
On the company's Windows Team Blog, Windows Live SkyDrive Program Manager Jason Moore wrote Tuesday that Office Web Apps is now available on SkyDrive at office.live.com to consumers in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Ireland. While free to consumers, Web Apps is available to all volume-licensing customers, or a subscription can be purchased as part of Microsoft Online Services. Office 2010 itself, with a range of pricing options, became available in mid-May for business users and will become available next week for consumers.
Office Web Apps allows users who have a free Windows Live account to upload one or more documents, such as an existing Word file, or to create them in a browser. If the company's free Silverlight application is installed, documents can simply be dragged and dropped into a browser to be uploaded.
On SkyDrive, recently edited or viewed documents are at the top of the list. An "edit in browser" option requires no special software. Colleagues can coauthor a document in real time. Instant messaging between coworkers utilizes Messenger on the web, whether or not Messenger is installed on the users' computers.
Version history allows an author to return to earlier edits of a document, and enhanced search enables searching across documents you've created or that you share. Additionally, Microsoft has said that "most smartphones" can also view the documents online with no additional software.
Microsoft's entry into free, online versions of its crown jewels is seen by many observers as a countermove to Google's increasingly functional, cloud-based Google Apps...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Google Denies Using Private Data for Mapping
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73763
Google representatives on Monday said the search engine company has not broken any laws with the collection of data for its mapping service, after Connecticut's attorney general pressed the company to "come clean with the American public."
Authorities fear the information gathered for Google's Street View service, which provides pictures of neighborhoods, may violate privacy laws.
Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries.
Police in Germany and Australia already have launched their own investigations into the matter.
"As we have said before, this was a mistake," said a Google spokeswoman in an e-mail statement to the Associated Press. "Google did nothing illegal and we are working with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns."
The attorneys general of Connecticut and Missouri have both sent letters to Google executives asking for clarification on the information collected for Street View.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal held a press conference Monday urging the search engine company to reveal whether it had illegally collected data from state personal and business wireless computer networks.
"People have legitimate expectations that private information will be kept private," he said. "These drive-by data sweeps may violate not only those expectations, but also possibly the law."
He said the data collection could give Google access to personal e-mails, passwords and web browsing histories, though he had no reports of any problems.
"Google should come clean with the American public by answering questions we have put to them about whether it intercepted information from unsecure wireless data networks while its Street View cars were taking pictures of people's homes and businesses," said Blumenthal. "Their credibility depends on truthful and prompt answers to these questions."
Thu, 10 Jun 10
New Book Reveals Facebook's Origins and Impact
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73762
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World" (Simon & Schuster, 372 pages, $26), by David Kirkpatrick
Many of us use Facebook nearly every day -- some of us multiple times a day -- without giving much thought to how the world's most popular social network came to be.
As it turns out, the story is fascinating, and somewhat complicated. Fortunately, journalist David Kirkpatrick is an able guide, taking readers on a mostly swift tour of the company that started as "TheFacebook" in founder Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room back in 2004 and has since mushroomed into a global company connecting a community that now approaches 500 million users.
"The Facebook Effect" opens not with Zuckerberg but with the tale of Oscar Morales, a civil engineer from Barranquilla, Colombia, who in 2008 formed a Facebook group protesting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Facebook activity quickly inspired massive, real-life protests against the leftist rebels the U.S. State Department calls a terrorist group. Though the story may sound a bit dramatic to the average Facebook user, it helps Kirkpatrick make an important point even before delving into the main narrative: In just a few years, Facebook has had a huge impact on people and institutions around the world, fundamentally changing how we communicate.
From there, Kirkpatrick backtracks to Zuckerberg, circa September 2003, when the then-sophomore installed an 8-foot whiteboard -- "the geek's consummate brainstorming tool," as Kirkpatrick puts it -- in the hallway of his four-student suite.
At the time, Zuckerberg was experimenting with several online projects: Course Match, a way to let students choose classes according to who was already signed up for them; and Facemash, which let people compare two people and decide who was more attractive. The winner would then be compared to increasingly more attractive...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Complaint Web Sites Can Help Shoppers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73757
Over the past decade, consumer-gripe Web sites have become an Internet mainstay, a place for customers to share opinions on what works and, mostly, what doesn't.
But how well do the leading complaint Web sites themselves work? On Monday, an old-fashioned bricks-and-mortar organization, the Consumer Federation of America, delivered a mixed verdict: The best sites are great for helping consumers voice irritation, but not so great for helping them address it.
Stephen Brobeck, the federation's executive director, said the group decided to examine more than a dozen complaint Web sites in part because they show up so frequently in Web searches.
Not very long ago, aggrieved consumers had few options beyond griping to friends or relatives, filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or state attorney general, or suing, Brobeck said. Now sites such as My3cents, Complaints Board and Ripoff Report, offer an alternative.
Though some sites, such as My3cents, offer consumers the chance to post positive comments, the sites have special appeal to the disgruntled.
"They're unhappy, and they want to vent," Brobeck said. "And this is a very low-cost way to vent with potentially high impact."
The report identified six sites as "especially popular and potentially useful": Complaints.com, My3cents.com, ComplaintsBoard.com, PissedConsumer.com, ConsumerAffairs.com and RipoffReport.com.
It singled out My3cents on several grounds, including its high volume of recent postings and its inclusion of tips on resolving complaints -- a rarity among the sites.
"In an ideal world, these Web sites could be much more robust," Brobeck said. He said the federation even considered urging improvements before it "came back to reality. These are pretty much one-person Web sites."
Susan Grant, the federation's director of consumer protection, said the best sites can help potential customers of the large, national companies most likely to appear in the sites' databases.
She said a lack of complaints should not be seen as...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Bar Codes Find New Business Uses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73742
It used to be that the only time you'd notice a bar code was at a store, maybe when a cashier scanned your groceries. But lately bar codes are showing up in more places around town -- and getting more sophisticated.
You might have seen one cousin of the traditional bar code: Known as a QR code, this jumble of little squares randomly arranged within a larger square is popping up on everything from bus stop billboards to restaurant windows. If you spot one and snap it with your cell phone camera, the device can show you a Web site, photo or video related to the advertiser.
For example, Google Inc. is giving businesses stickers with QR codes that passers-by can scan. That brings up a link to a mobile version of a Google page where the business can post coupons and information about themselves. Soon the codes could lead to other avenues for connecting with customers in ways businesses can measure and control. That could help them target advertisements to the people who are most likely to respond to their entreaties.
Earlier attempts to get consumers to scan bar codes that link with the Web didn't get much traction. The 1990s brought the CueCat, which let publishers append their printed material with bar codes that people could scan with a handheld reader if they wanted to be taken directly to related information on their computers. The QR code (short for "quick response") also was released back in the '90s by Japanese scanning equipment maker Denso Wave Inc.
What has changed now, though, is that consumers are increasingly engaging with their mobile devices for more than making phone calls, texts and checking e-mails. And smart phones can easily download scanning applications that make it possible for product codes to leap from store shelves to...
Thu, 10 Jun 10
Soon, That Nearby Worker Might Be a Robot
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73679
One of Linda Muniz's newest colleagues is a robot that makes deliveries. On a recent morning, Muniz greeted the robot as it rolled up to the nursing station at El Camino Hospital in the Silicon Valley community of Mountain View, Calif., and announced its presence in a polite female voice.
"I call her 'Tugette,'" says Muniz, who works in hospital admissions. The voice is about the only feminine part of this robot, which was developed by Aethon as part of a product line called Tug, which automatically transports food, medicine, and lab samples around hospitals. The robot looks like a cabinet attached to a giant vacuum cleaner. Muniz can unload Tugette's cabinet, press a green button, and send the machine rolling to its next delivery.
While robots have been around for decades, they've mostly been used in manufacturing jobs considered too dangerous for humans. "Big robots were often behind fences, " says Jeff Burnstein, president of the Robotic Industries Assn., a trade group in Ann Arbor, Mich., that promotes wider use of robots in industry. "Now, we're seeing movement in making robots more intrinsically safe so they can work side-by-side with humans."
Thanks to more advanced sensors and safety technology that can prevent them from injuring people, robots are moving beyond factories and into different types of work. As robots and workers interact more extensively, manufacturers are coping with dramatic expectations from their human counterparts and trying to moderate employees' emotional responses by building a measure of cuteness into the machines. "There's a cultural element that's helped keep robots out of the workplace," says Larry Fisher, research director at market researcher ABI Research. Unlike the Japanese, who are more accepting when robots mix with people, Americans reflect greater conditioning from such movies as The Terminator and fear robots. "You're not too anxious to...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Times Demands End To App That Reads Its RSS Feed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73775
All the news that's fit to print won't be showing up on your iPad anytime soon. The New York Times has demanded that Apple remove the popular Pulse News Reader application from its App Store because it feeds the paper's content to the iPad via RSS. That's illegal, says the Old Gray Lady's counsel.
"The Pulse News Reader app makes commercial use of the NYTimes.com and Boston.com RSS feeds, in violation of their terms of use," a Times letter to Apple says, according to a widely published excerpt Tuesday attributed to Richard Samson, the Times representative. "Thus, the use of our content is unlicensed. We hereby demand that you immediately and permanently remove this app from the iTunes site."
The demand had many analysts scratching their heads, given the new readers and ad revenue that could have been generated by having Times stories easily put on the iPad, two million of which have been sold in just two months. The $3.99 Pulse has been downloaded 35,000 times from the App Store, according to Apple. It was even mentioned by CEO Steve Jobs in his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
"The New York Times action seems odd given that Pulse does nothing more or less than every other RSS reader," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at the consulting firm Altimeter Group. "The New York Times can't stop RSS, it's bigger then they are. Will the Times turn off their RSS feeds? If the Times feels this threatened by two college kids, perhaps they face larger issues."
Avi Greengart, consumer technology researcher for Current Analysis, said that while he can understand the Times' need to keep control of its content, "it's bizarre that they would ask Apple to pull an RSS reader when the Times is the one providing the...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Sony Releases All-in-One VAIO J Touchscreen PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73774
Sony announced its line of all-in-one touchscreen entry-level-priced VAIO PCs on Tuesday -- the J Touch series -- replacing the company's JS series of all-in-one desktop machines. The J series offer a 21.5-inch 1920x1080 display for full HD, an optional Blu-ray drive, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and a built-in webcam. With its multi-touch interface, users can scroll, zoom and rotate images with finger movements.
Senior Vice President Mike Lucas said the "attractive price point" will enable this kind of technology to reach "a whole new audience." Prices are expected to start at about $900, and the J Touch series will be available in July.
To keep things simple, three hardware buttons allow direct access to key features. The VAIO button takes the user into the Media Gallery, which contains the music library. Twenty-one unique channels of music can be created in the gallery, based on beat, tone, rhythm and other elements. There's also Sony's SensMe recommendation engine to help users rediscover old favorites, based on current listening habits.
The ASSIST button leads the user to do-it-yourself maintenance procedures, including a VAIO Care software program. A DISPLAY OFF button turns off the screen to run overnight applications without sending the PC into hibernation.
The webcam's face-tracking technology and microphone facilitate video chats, and the included Webcam Message Board software enables easy creation of video messages and handwritten notes that can be left on the screen.
Two configurations are currently available, as well as such options as an adjustable stand for viewing, read/write CD and DVD drives, a slot for an SD memory card, and a multimedia card reader.
The VPCJ117FX/B model is built around an i5-450M Intel Core processor running at 2.40 GHZ with Turbo Boost of up to 2.66 GHz, and 6GB of system memory, Nvidia GeForce graphics with...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Microsoft Plots a Comeback for Its Smartphone OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73773
Microsoft told TechEd Conference attendees in New Orleans this week that they can expect the company's Windows Phone 7 smartphone OS to attract plenty of business users. By combining familiar tools such as PowerPoint, OneNote, Word, Excel and SharePoint with rich e-mail, calendar and contacts, the new platform will be able to offer compelling business apps for increased productivity, the company said.
According to Gartner, Microsoft's global smartphone OS market share amounted to just 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 -- down from 10.2 percent in the year-earlier period. Microsoft also fell to the number-five slot behind Nokia (Symbian OS), Research In Motion (BlackBerry OS), Apple (iPhone OS), and Google (Android OS).
Nevertheless, Microsoft's days as a top-tier smartphone contender are far from over, noted Al Hilwa, director of application development software at IDC. "It is still early enough for the software giant to capture a sizable slice of the market and reemerge as a leading player," Hilwa observed.
Still, Hilwa said Microsoft will have to execute flawlessly to make a comeback. "Out of the gate they need to show significant developer momentum with thousands of great apps available," he said.
Unlike the PC market, the smartphone market will continue to be fragmented with multiple big players for a long time, Hilwa observed. "Microsoft will have to get used to being a top-five player rather than the top dog from a market-share perspective," Hilwa said. "But it is very possible for them to muscle up to top-three status with a generation or two of the platform behind them."
One of the things Microsoft must have at the outset is a significant gaming portfolio. "They could make a position as the mobile gaming solution to beat if they leverage their Xbox assets properly," Hilwa said.
Hilwa also believes Microsoft will...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
China Vows To Keep Blocking Online Content
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73771
China vowed Tuesday to keep a tight grip on the Internet, saying it would continue to block anything considered subversive or threatening to "national unity."
The "white paper" statement of government policy was released three months after a public dispute over censorship prompted Google Inc. to shut its mainland-based search engine.
It said there were 384 million Internet users in China at the end of 2009, about 29 percent of the population. The government aims to boost that to 45 percent in the next five years by pushing into rural areas where the white paper said there was a "digital gap."
It said the Internet had taken an "irreplaceable role in accelerating the development of the national economy" and would continue to impact daily work, education and lifestyles.
But China, which routinely blocks Web sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, gave no sign there would be an easing of the "Great Firewall" -- the nickname for the network of filters that keep mainland Web surfers from accessing material the government deems sensitive.
The official English translation of the white paper favorably mentions Twitter -- an apparent glitch since the U.S. microblogging service has been banned in China since last year. The English version named Twitter as an example of a fast-growing service that allows people to express themselves, while the Chinese version mentions only micro-blogs.
The 31-page white paper did not give specific examples of what content would be banned, saying Chinese laws prohibit the spread of "contents subverting state power, undermining national unity, infringing upon national honor and interests, inciting ethnic hatred and secession" as well as such things as pornography and terror.
The white paper also put the onus on companies to block content deemed sensitive, saying China required Internet service providers to set up "Internet security management systems and utilize technical measures to...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Apple's iPhone 4 Redefines the Smartphone Experience
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73769
Apple enthusiasts weren't disappointed Tuesday. The Apple iPhone 4 is living up to the market's expectations with an entirely new design and next-generation features that could cause some Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless consumers to jump on the AT&T bandwagon.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, donning his signature blue jeans, black turtleneck, and white sneakers, introduced the iPhone 4 at the Worldwide Developers Conference and the buzz just keeps getting louder.
"iPhone 4 is the biggest leap since the original iPhone," Jobs said. "FaceTime video calling sets a new standard for mobile communication, and our new Retina display is the highest-resolution display ever in a phone, with text looking like it does on a fine printed page. We have been dreaming about both of these breakthroughs for decades."
FaceTime is Apple's version of video chat. It lets you see the person you are talking to on the iPhone 4, so long as you have Wi-Fi. FaceTime also lets you use the rear camera to show others what you are seeing with a quick tap on the device. Complimenting FaceTime is the new 3.5-inch Retina display. It offers 960x640 pixels. That's four times as many pixels as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad.
"Video chat has been around for a while. We've seen it on other devices, but it's never something that's been promoted or advertised as a major feature," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "More importantly, this is done with a degree of complexity and elegance. You add up that combination and the fact that Apple is selling basically next year's technology at last year's prices, and there's no doubt that this phone is going to do very well."
Part of the new technology is a five-megapixel autofocus camera...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
iPhone 4 Tops HTC EVO 4G, But Other Factors Matter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73768
In this corner, the HTC EVO 4G, the first-ever phone capable of running on a 4G network. In the opposing corner, the new iPhone 4, a redesign of the market-changing device that debuted four days later.
The EVO 4G and the iPhone 4 appear to be the hottest devices of summer 2010. The release of these next-generation devices sets the stage for a smartphone battle more intense than the market has witnessed in some time. Or does it? Although many are talking about a showdown between the EVO 4G on the Sprint Nextel network and the iPhone 4 on AT&T, some analysts are pointing out significant differences that pour water on the notion.
"I don't think there's really a war between the EVO 4G and the iPhone 4," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "They are both high-end devices at first glance. But they appeal to different users."
Different users, indeed. Apple fans will no doubt gravitate toward the iPhone -- unless perhaps they are Sprint customers who don't want to pay an early termination fee to get out of their contract. Since the new phones are on different carriers, consumers may also have a preference for either AT&T or Sprint that could make the battle less about the device and more about wireless coverage.
Then there's the operating-system differences. The EVO 4G run the Android operating system and the iPhone 4 uses Apple's iOS 4. "You are getting two very different experiences on these devices," Gartenberg said. "I think that the EVO will appeal to some segments of the marketplace, as will iPhone 4."
Clearly, the EVO 4G has its appeal. Sprint announced record-breaking sales of the Android device three days after its official launch. But it's unlikely to touch the sales Apple is expected to ring up....
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Safari 5 Offers Ad-Free Reading, Enhanced HTML5
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73767
Although it was overshadowed by the release of iPhone 4, Apple released version 5 of its Safari browser on Monday. The new version features a 30 percent performance increase over Safari 4, and a new Reader that allows a user to read multiple-page articles on the web -- without ads.
As with previous versions, the newest Safari incarnation is available for Mac and Windows. It features support for a dozen new HTML5 technologies, including full-screen playback and closed captioning for video, geolocation, sectioning elements, a draggable attribute, forms validation, Ruby, AJAX history, EventSource and WebSocket. WebSocket is a still-being-standardized open protocol for bidirectional, full-duplex communications.
Safari extensions can be created by developers for enhanced browsing, and the extensions can utilize HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. Safari 5 offers a new Extension Builder, which Apple said helps to simplify the development and installation of extensions. The company also noted that, for security reasons, the extensions are sandboxed, require a signed digital certificate, and run only in the browser.
In addition to running JavaScript 30 percent faster than its predecessor, Apple said Safari 5's JavaScript performance is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3.6 -- but only slightly faster than Google's Chrome 5.0. In addition, web pages are loaded faster because of Domain Name System (DNS) pre-fetching.
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller said Safari currently runs on "over 200 million devices worldwide," and the open-source WebKit engine on which it is based -- and which powers other browsers, including Google's Chrome -- is present on more than 500 million devices.
The Reader function is attracting attention because it allows a user to read content without being bothered by ads. When the browser detects an article, the Reader option in the Smart Address Field can be selected to show the content in...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Sharp Unveils Wall-to-Wall Imagery
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73739
Walls, ceiling and floors will turn into wall-to-wall imagery with Sharp's new technology that has minimized the gaps between displays, allowing them to be used like high-tech tiles.
The Japanese maker of Aquos flat-panel TVs showed Monday a massive screen like the ones at movie theaters, except that it was made of thirty 60-inch liquid crystal displays mounted next to each other.
The space in between each display, which still shows up as dark lines crisscrossing the screen, has been reduced to just 6.5 millimeters (0.26 inches) -- the thinnest in the world for displays of that size, according to Osaka-based Sharp.
Previously, such lines were far thicker at 40 millimeters (1.6 inches), appearing like black frames around each display.
Sharp's "i3 Wall" (pronounced "i-triple wall") systems will go on sale mainly to businesses in Japan in August and later this year in the U.S. and Europe, targeting showrooms, shopping malls and airports, officials said.
The whole setup, including software to convert video and images for i3 Wall, costs 50 million yen ($550,000) each. Sharp hopes to turn it into a 100 billion yen ($1 billion) annual business over the next several years.
Sharp's Fujikazu Nakayama said the displays were clearer and brighter than other ways to show expansive images such as rear-projection and plasma displays.
At a Tokyo hall, Sharp also demonstrated 24 displays packed side by side on a floor. If underwater images are played in a restaurant, diners will feel as though they are floating above water, said Moriyuki Okada, another Sharp executive.
"We will be able to create museum-like spaces," he said. "We hope to see this develop into many possibilities."
Wed, 9 Jun 10
New York Establishes E-Waste Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73738
New Yorkers will be able to recycle their dusty dot-matrix printers and cobwebbed computer monitors for free, now that the state has joined 22 others in enacting an electronic waste recycling law.
Under the law recently signed by Gov. David Paterson, all manufacturers that sell electronic equipment in the state must have a free, convenient electronic waste, or "e-waste," recycling program in effect by April 1, 2011.
The law also makes it illegal for individuals to dispose of electronic waste at landfills, effective Jan. 1, 2015.
Kate Sinding, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, calls New York's bill "the most progressive, best researched e-waste bill in the country," building on successful e-waste laws in Washington, Oregon and Minnesota.
Under the new law, each manufacturer will have to recycle or reuse its market share of e-waste by weight, based on its three-year average of annual sales in the state. They'll also have to submit annual reports to the Department of Environmental Conservation documenting that they have met goals for collection and recycling.
The law covers televisions, VCRs, DVD and MP3 players, game consoles, fax machines, and computers and their peripherals such as monitors, keyboards, mice, scanners and printers.
Resa Dimino, special assistant in DEC's policy office, said manufacturers are likely to collaborate and develop single collection locations in large communities that will handle all materials. That's been the trend in other states, she said.
"Because they must meet a performance standard, we've created an incentive for manufacturers to collect as much material as possible," Dimino said.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 14.9 pounds of electronic waste per person was awaiting disposal in the United States in 2007, the latest figure available. The agency says the electronics recycling rate nationally is about 13 percent.
Junked electronics represent one of the nation's fastest-growing waste streams. The machines contain both...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
'Scareware' Ads Proliferate Across the Internet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73736
Court records show to the penny how much software company Innovative Marketing banked by getting computer users to pay for fake anti-virus programs: $163,167,539.95.
Before its demise, the Ukraine-based company employed hundreds of workers collaborating to scare victims into paying $30 to $70 for such software, according to court records.
Even now, "scareware" continues to flourish. Online promotions for worthless anti-virus software increased tenfold in the first quarter this year as compared with mid-2008 when U.S. regulators began civil and criminal legal actions against the firm, believed to be the biggest of its kind, anti-virus firm McAfee says.
Microsoft recently reported that its free Malicious Software Removal Tool cleaned scareware off 7.8 million PCs in the last six months of 2009, vs. 5.3 million PCs in the first six months.
"Quite simply, scareware is booming," says Roel Schouwenberg, senior researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
According to a civil judgment won by the Federal Trade Commission, Innovative Marketing created dummy ad agencies to place innocuous-looking ads for big-name corporations without their permission on popular Web sites. Anyone who clicked on such an ad triggered a fake scan showing his or her PC to be infested with viruses; a sales pitch followed for a bogus clean-up.
Variations of this ruse still infest the Internet, orchestrated by "new, more discreet entities," says McAfee researcher Francois Paget. Pervasive scams revolve around:
*Search results. Scammers put up Web pages designed mainly to turn up high in search results rankings for Google queries about celebrity news and other hot topics. Clicking on a link launches the scareware.
*Social networks. Scammers steal Facebook and Twitter account log-ons, then send messages carrying a tainted Web link to the victim's contacts. The high trust and rapid repartee common to social networks help scammers trick users into launching scareware, says Andrew Brandt, researcher at anti-virus firm Webroot.
Meanwhile, scareware purveyors...
Wed, 9 Jun 10
Hesse Plots a Sprint Comeback with 4G Debut
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73733
Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse might be the most recognizable head of any wireless company in the world. Since late 2007, Hesse has been the face of Sprint as he lauds the third-largest U.S. carrier's virtues in TV and radio ads.
When it comes to phones, Sprint has struggled to find one that can deliver the recognition its chief executive has achieved. Although the company has recorded strong sales of Palm's Pre and some Samsung models, none has become a must-have gadget the way Apple's iPhone, exclusive to AT&T, or Verizon Wireless' Droid smartphones have done.
Now Sprint is counting on the anticipated HTC Evo 4G to spur interest in its brand. In an interview with Businessweek.com, Hesse says the Evo -- which went on sale June 4 and is the first phone to come out in the U.S. based on a next-generation high-speed wireless technology -- could be just the device to bring high-paying customers back into its fold.
Sprint has suffered two years of dwindling subscriber growth and is working to improve what has been regarded as poor customer service. Sprint in the past three years has lost 9.4 million "postpaid" wireless subscribers who sign up for monthly service contracts. The company lost 578,000 postpaid customers in the first quarter.
"It took me a long time to decide to come over and do this job," says Hesse, who joined Sprint in 2007 from communications company Embarq (now CenturyLink), and who spent 23 years at AT&T. "At the time, it was in a very difficult place. We have moved the needle a lot."
Sprint has stanched a tide of defections to larger rivals in recent months, offering simplified rate plans and helping customers set up their phones. The company has also slowed its subscriber loss rate by improving...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Jobs Shows Thinner Retina Display iPhone 4G at WWDC
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73755
Apple launched its newest iPhone handset Monday, and although the iPhone 4G has already been seen around the world thanks to a leaked prototype, CEO Steve Jobs introduced such dazzling features as a gyroscope, FaceTime video chat, and a Retina Display with 326 pixels-per-square-inch resolution.
The iPhone model that turned up on a tech site after it was lost in April by an Apple engineer was deactivated remotely, so Monday's debut at the Worldwide Developers' Conference in San Francisco was the world's first glimpse of a fully functioning iPhone with the latest operating system and apps.
Although the screen size is the same as the iPhone 3GS at 3.5 inches, the resolution is now 960 by 640 pixels, allowing for far better graphics and text when viewed at any size. "Once you use Retina Display, you can't go back," Jobs asserted.
The iPhone 4G is also 24 percent thinner, and a metallic band on its edge between two glass panels serves as an antenna. The iPhone 4G also has front and back cameras for video chatting, and dual microphones for noise reduction. It's greener, too, with no mercury, PVC or arsenic and a longer battery life. Pre-orders will start next week.
Jobs only briefly alluded to the wayward prototype by saying "there have been photos around" and "you have to see it in person."
Demonstrating a gyroscope that allows the processor to manipulate graphics based on movement of the device or the user, which opens unlimited gaming-app possibilities, Jobs said "These phones are getting more and more intelligent about the world around them."
In typical fashion, Jobs cast the device as further revolutionizing the smartphone, as the first iPhone did three years ago.
<
"In 2007, iPhone reinvented what we thought of as a smartphone," he said. "It's hard to remember what it was like. It...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
HP ePrint Machines Use E-Mail To Print Documents
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73754
On Monday, Hewlett-Packard unveiled the next generation of printers. ePrint printers are web-enabled, work in the cloud, and will print from e-mail. In addition, users can store documents or files in the cloud for direct printing on demand. Prices start at $99.
The HP printers are the first with the ability to talk to the Google cloud without needing a local proxy PC or web appliance. That means people can access Google Docs, photos and calendar directly from their printers. Companies like Yahoo, Facebook and Reuters are also making print apps that work with the new machines.
"This is HP making printers relevant again. Over the last few years, printers were increasingly irrelevant," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "People are living on the web and printers were an anachronism looking back to the past before we had the web. By integrating the web into printers, suddenly they are relevant again."
HP offers several "relevant" examples of how consumers can use the web-enabled printers with the ePrint platform. A mother and son can print drawings they created on the iPad. Or users can print from mobile devices like the Palm Pre or BlackBerry smartphone and pick up the documents at a FedEx Office store.
The HP ePrint printers come with a unique e-mail address that lets consumers print a document the same way they would send an e-mail message. Consumers can also send Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDFs, JPEG images, and other file types using HP's ePrintCenter. Documents are sent to the ePrintCenter's e-mail address, which handles the image and sends it to an ePrint printer.
"As much as we talk about iPad and tablets, people don't move from one type of thing to another very quickly. In fact, we've been talking about the paperless office since the early...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Adobe, Greystripe Put Flash Ads on Apple's Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73752
Adobe Systems and mobile-ad network Greystripe said Monday they are collaborating on rich-media interactive ads for deployment across the Android, iPhone and iPad platforms. According to the companies, their solution will let developers produce ads using Adobe Flash authoring tools -- despite Apple's ban on Flash.
The new technology converts Flash-based content in real time into HTML5 code that can be displayed directly by Apple's Safari web browser on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. As a result, developers will be able to use Adobe Flash tools to create ad content in a way that satisfies Apple's licensing requirements.
"This is a good solution and a fix to the problem for those sites that have Flash content and want to enable it for iPhone and iPad users," said Al Hilwa, program director of applications development software at IDC.
Greystripe has maintained that its iFlash technology was compliant with the new terms in Apple's iPhone Developer Program license agreement -- specifically the clause concerning cross-compilers, noted Greystripe Director of Marketing Dane Holewinski last month in a blog.
"Our iFlash technology, which delivers ads into these iPhone applications as HTML5, is not a part of the application itself and so falls outside of this clause," Holewinski wrote. "As always, advertisers only need to submit their existing Flash or HTML5 assets and Greystripe will do the rest."
The close collaboration between Greystripe and Adobe will enable the companies to focus even more closely on giving brand advertisers and digital agencies the ability to retain full control over ad development while reducing the cost of creating separate ads in HTML5. Ad developers also will be able to choose between expandable banners and full-screen formats.
"We are committed to providing agencies the best tools and a consistent and ubiquitous Flash runtime to create digital ads and...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Yahoo Expands Content Offerings with a Facebook Link
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73749
Facebook's privacy issues don't seem to be scaring off Yahoo. The search engine announced plans Monday to more tightly integrate its network with Facebook as part of a broader move to get more social.
Yahoo's strategy might be "if you can't beat them, integrate them." Rather than trying once again to build a social-media powerhouse of its own, Yahoo is inking deals that bring what it deems the best social experiences from across the web to its users.
As Cody Simms, Yahoo's senior director of social platforms and the developer network, sees it, Yahoo is in a strategic position to offer people a collection of "mainstream methods of content discovery -- social, search, communications and editorial" in one place so people can share information and connect. Simms also said the moves will help Yahoo "extend our reach and increase engagement."
Facebook and Yahoo are hardly strangers. But Yahoo sees the latest deal as an important milestone in the partnership. Starting this week, people who use both Yahoo and Facebook can link their accounts. Linking makes it possible to view and share updates with friends across both networks.
Here's an example of how it works: If you connect your accounts, you can read your Facebook news feed on the Yahoo home page, in Yahoo Mail, and other Yahoo sites and services. On the other hand, if you create and share content on Yahoo sites -- including Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Flickr and so on -- you can easily share your actions with friends back on Facebook. Yahoo also hinted at "additional integrations."
"Yahoo has tried and largely failed to build social networks or pseudo social networks in the past. It's now taking an 'aggregation' approach and integrating or building on top of third-party sites -- specifically Facebook and Twitter," said Greg Sterling,...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
HTC EVO 4G Tops Sprint Sales Ahead of New iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73748
In what was at least somewhat reminiscent of the first iPhone launch, thousands of customers lined up early Friday morning to get their hands on a shiny new HTC EVO 4G, hailed as the hottest Android device of the summer and a possible iPhone competitor. So hot, in fact, that it broke Sprint Nextel sales records.
According to Sprint, Friday's sales of the HTC EVO 4G marked the largest quantity of a single phone sold in one day in company history. The Samsung Instinct and the Palm Pre previously held the same record, but HTC blew both former record holders out of the water. The EVO sold three times the number of Instincts and Pres sold over their first three days on the market combined. Sprint is pointing to temporary shortages of the EVO 4G at some retail locations.
But Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, is skeptical about the EVO hype: "What would it take to break sales records for a Palm anything?" he asks. "Sprint is looking for some good news, but these sales are not sustainable."
As Disabato sees it, consumers ran out to see what the HTC EVO 4G was all about, but they did so before a potentially market-turning announcement. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was expected to introduce the iPhone 4G at the company's Worldwide Developer's Conference on Monday.
"People will be happy with the EVO until Jobs announces the new iPhone, and then people are going to have buyer's remorse," Disabato said. "How many EVOs do you think are going to get returned when consumers see the new iPhone? I'll be watching for the answer to that question."
Despite the rave reviews for the HTC EVO 4G, Disabato expects plenty of returns. In fact, returns are a common problem that he said...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Mom Finds Missing Children Using Facebook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73746
A Southern California mother whose two children were reported missing 15 years ago has tracked them down in Florida using Facebook.
The children's father, Faustino Utrera, took off with them in 1995 when they were ages 2 and 3, said Deputy District Attorney Kurt Rowley. The mother had found her daughter's Facebook profile after searching for her name on the social networking site in March, Rowley said.
An official said Saturday that the now 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy have been placed in the custody of the state of Florida.
"You can imagine the feelings she's having, not seeing her children for so many years and knowing they've bonded with another family," Rowley said about the mother. "But at the same time they're almost within her grasp."
The two teenagers are being cared for by a non-relative in Florida with whom the pair have an existing relationship, said Florida Department of Children and Families spokeswoman Elizabeth Arenas, who did not identify the mother.
She referred further questions to the woman's lawyer, who did not return a phone call.
Sheriff's deputies in Florida detained Utrera on an arrest warrant last month obtained by prosecutors who were contacted by the missing children's mother, Rowley told the San Bernardino Sun newspaper.
He was charged with kidnapping and violating child custody orders.
Rowley said that when the daughter's profile was found on Facebook, she initially told her mother that she did not want to re-establish their relationship, but the contact helped prosecutors file two felony counts each of kidnapping and child abduction against Utrera.
Rowley said he expected Utrera to fight extradition at a July 17 hearing in Florida.
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Oracle Slashes More Jobs Tied to Sun
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73744
Oracle Corp. is cutting more jobs as part of its takeover of slumping computer-server maker Sun Microsystems.
Oracle, the world's biggest database-software maker, said in a regulatory filing Friday that the new round of cuts would mostly hit employees in Asia and Europe.
It didn't specify how many employees would be laid off. But it did say the new restructuring would be at least twice as expensive as the one Oracle initiated immediately after closing the Sun deal in January.
The new cuts will cost Oracle $675 million to $825 million. The previous cuts, which are ongoing, will cost an estimated $325 million.
Affected employees started to get notified May 28.
Oracle declined further comment. Oracle had 106,492 workers as of the end of February.
Sun had already cut deeply before Oracle took it over.
Last October, while the $7.4 billion takeover was being held up over antitrust concerns in Europe, Sun announced plans to jettison 10 percent of its work force, or up to 3,000 jobs. It had already cut 7,600 workers in three previous rounds of layoffs.
When Oracle was allowed to consummate the deal in January, its CEO, Larry Ellison, said he planned to hire more people for the Sun businesses than he would fire in the first few months after the acquisition. He estimated the Sun layoffs in that period would be about 1,000 workers.
The deal was a lifeline for Sun, one of the world's biggest server makers whose losses were mounting, and a way for Oracle, one of the world's biggest business-software makers, to challenge IBM Corp. in more markets.
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Australia Launches Google Privacy Investigation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73741
Australia announced a police investigation Sunday into whether Google illegally collected private information from wireless networks, becoming at least the second country to probe the Internet giant's "Street View" mapping service.
The Australian criminal investigation comes as more regulators and consumers watchdogs around the world are complaining that Google doesn't take people's privacy seriously enough. Google maintains that its users' privacy is one of the company's highest priorities.
Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected fragments of data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries while it was taking pictures of neighborhoods for the Street View feature. Google said it discovered the problem after German regulators launched an inquiry into the matter.
Also last month, the head of the House Judiciary Committee in the U.S., Michigan Democrat John Conyers, sent letters to Google and Facebook urging them to cooperate with any government privacy inquiries. Conyers asked Google to retain the data until any inquiries are complete.
The Australian probe follows questions over whether Google employees taking photographs for the mapping service violated the country's privacy laws.
"In light of concerns having been raised by the public, my department thought there were issues of substance that were raised that require police investigation," Australia's Federal Attorney General Robert McClelland told journalists in Melbourne.
The case was referred to the Australian Federal Police on Friday, he said. It will focus on whether the company breached the country's telecommunications interceptions act, which prevents people accessing electronic communications other than for authorized purposes, he said.
Google has characterized its collection of snippets from e-mails and Web surfing done on public Wi-Fi networks as an error and said it has taken steps to avoid a recurrence.
"This was a mistake," Google said in a statement on the Australian case. "We are talking to the appropriate authorities to answer any questions they...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Adobe Warns of Critical Risks for Flash & Acrobat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73732
Adobe has issued a "critical" alert that zero-day attacks are being launched on a security vulnerability in its Flash Player, PDF Reader, and Acrobat products. The alert applies to Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris operating systems, as well as the authplay.dll component that accompanies Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.3.2 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows, Mac and Unix OSs.
The Security Advisory, posted by the company late Friday, noted that the 10.1 Release Candidate of the Flash Player, currently available for download, "does not appear to be vulnerable." Similarly, Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x appear to be unaffected.
A zero-day attack is one that has been launched before the developer, in this case Adobe, has been able to issue a patch. Adobe said the vulnerability can cause a crash and, potentially, could enable an attacker to take control of the user's system.
The Advisory noted that "deleting, renaming, or removing access to the authplay.dll file mitigates the threat," but it will result in a "non-exploitable crash or error message" when a PDF file with Flash content is opened.
Adobe said that the authplay.dll that comes with Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x for Windows is usually installed at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\authplay.dll for Adobe Reader or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\authplay.dll for Acrobat.
The vulnerability underscores an argument that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been making in his battle with Adobe about using Flash on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Apple will not allow Flash on those devices, insisting that standards-based, emerging HTML5 technologies be used instead for the video and interactive animation for which Flash is widely employed.
In a "Thoughts on Flash" statement posted on the Apple Web site, Joba attacked Flash for being proprietary when the Web should be open, as well...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Court Weighs School Discipline for Web Posts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73723
A U.S. appeals court heard arguments Thursday over whether school officials can discipline students for making lewd, harassing or juvenile Internet postings from off-campus computers.
Two students from two different Pennsylvania school districts are fighting suspensions they received for posting derisive profiles of their principals on MySpace from home computers. The American Civil Liberties Union argued that school officials infringe on student's free speech rights when they reach beyond school grounds in such cases to impose discipline.
"While children are in school, they are under the custody and tutelage of the school," ACLU lawyer Witold Walczak argued Thursday in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Once they leave the schoolhouse gate, you've got parents that come into play."
But a lawyer for the Hermitage School District in western Pennsylvania offered a different view.
"It's not a matter of where you throw the grenade, it's where the grenade lands," Anthony Sanchez said.
The appeals court agreed to rehear the two cases in a rare en banc session -- with all 14 eligible judges on the bench -- after its judges issued conflicting rulings in the two cases in February. One three-judge panel upheld a girl's suspension, while another found the suspension of a boy unconstitutional.
Such disparities are common around the country as school districts wrestle with how to address online behavior that can range from pranks to threats to cyberbullying.
Some school officials mete out discipline, opening themselves to lawsuits, or refer cases to police. Occasionally, a targeted school employee sues the suspected culprit for defamation.
David L. Hudson Jr., a scholar at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., has reviewed many such cases across the country and said the extent of school officials' jurisdiction remains unsettled.
Legal experts hope the Supreme Court will soon clarify the limits of school discipline for online speech that is posted...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Software Maker Deltek Makes Bid for Rival Maconomy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73722
Deltek Inc., which makes business software for tracking expenses, performance and other functions, said Thursday it had made an offer to buy its Danish rival Maconomy for about $72 million.
Herndon-based Deltek said it is launching a tender offer for Maconomy's shares at about $3.39 each. That is a premium of 50 percent over the stock's prior-day closing price on the Copenhagen Exchange.
Maconomy's board and executives have unanimously endorsed the offer, which is expected to close in early July. To complete the deal, the holders of around 90 percent of all Maconomy shares must approve the offer. The company's two largest shareholders, who control 30 percent of the stock, have already tendered their shares, the companies said.
Deltek and Maconomy make similar software. Deltek sells its products primarily in North America, while Maconomy has a strong presence in Europe and serves companies in 60 countries.
"We are very excited to combine Maconomy's industry-leading capabilities and domain expertise with Deltek, and we are committed to investing in both the Maconomy and Deltek product suites to provide maximum value and flexibility to our combined customers," Deltek President and CEO Kevin Parker said. "There are obvious strategic opportunities from this combination, and Maconomy's innovative software solutions and geographic reach perfectly complement Deltek's existing offerings for professional services firms."
Deltek employs 1,100 people in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines and had revenues of $266 million in 2009. Copenhagen-based Maconomy has 230 employees and has five European offices and a U.S. office. Maconomy posted revenues of DKK 220 million ($41 million) last year.
Tue, 8 Jun 10
China Allows Access To Some Blocked Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73717
Some Web sites, including ones with pornography, that were previously blocked by China's Internet censors were accessible inside the country Friday, though reasons for the change were unclear.
But China on Friday blocked Web service Foursquare, which lets users alert friends to where they are through their cell phones. The reason was not known, but many users had been "checking in" from Tiananmen Square to mark the anniversary of a bloody 1989 government crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests.
Discussion of the event still is taboo in China and the Communist government is highly sensitive to any commemoration activities.
Beijing encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block material deemed subversive or pornographic and operates an extensive system of Web monitoring and censorship. The government has launched repeated crackdowns against online pornography, calling it unhealthy and harmful.
But many Chinese and foreign-language pornography sites were accessible Friday and reports said they were apparently unblocked earlier this week. Other newly unblocked sites included Voice of America, video-sharing site Vimeo and URL shortening site bit.ly.
While video sharing site YouTube remained inaccessible as is routine in China, a pornographic knockoff -- YouPorn -- became available.
China's message boards, where many of the country's 400 million-plus Internet users trade information and gossip, were notably quiet about the newly unblocked sites. However, at least one posting on the topic could not be opened, indicating it was deleted by site administrators or government censors.
Wen Yunchao, a popular blogger who writes about social issues and the Internet, said most experienced users who want to watch pornography have always been able to access it using widely available proxy servers designed to scale the "Great Firewall."
"People who want to see porn, they'll always find a way to get to it," he said.
For example, "Xingqu," which Wen described as a major Chinese pornography...
Tue, 8 Jun 10
Massive Data Theft Leads to Hackers, Businessman
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73715
A massive data theft from the e-commerce company Digital River has led investigators to hackers in India and a 20-year-old in New York who allegedly tried to sell the information to a Colorado marketing firm for half a million dollars.
The Eden Prairie, Minn., company obtained a secret court order last month to block Eric Porat of Brooklyn from selling, destroying, altering or distributing purloined data on nearly 200,000 individuals. Digital River suspects the information was stolen by hackers in New Delhi, possibly with inside help.
Porat has said he got the information from India, but won't say how or from whom.
"I fully suspect that Mr. Porat hacked the hacker," said Christopher Madel, an attorney with Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi who is overseeing Digital River's investigation.
The matter came to light Thursday afternoon when U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank convened a public status conference in the case. The hearing was posted on the court docket without listing any of the parties involved.
A reporter attended the hearing, and Frank ordered all previously filed documents to be unsealed without objection. Frank, who co-chairs a committee on public access to the federal courts in Minnesota, said he temporarily allowed the civil case to be filed under seal -- and without notice to the defense -- so that Digital River could issue subpoenas and safeguard evidence that might otherwise be destroyed or disappear.
Digital River Marketing Solutions Inc. filed the lawsuit under seal on May 13 listing Porat and his company Affiliads LLC, as defendants and demanding to know how they obtained the firm's data and what they've done with it.
The data was originally gathered by companies that offer "affiliated marketing" programs, a practice in which businesses pay a commission to affiliates who post links on the Internet that drive customers to participating companies. The affiliates get...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
HTML5 Showcase Backs Apple's Rejection of Flash
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73729
With the battle lines between HTML5 and Flash drawn, Apple has launched an HTML5 showcase on its web site. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said the feature shows "how Apple's Safari web browser, new Macs, and new Apple mobile devices all support the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript."
As the site notes, not all browsers currently support these standards, but it said "soon other modern browsers" will. Apple has been engaged in a major battle with Adobe Systems over its Flash technology, which Apple does not allow on its iPad, iPhone or iPod touch mobile devices.
The showcase features demonstrations of video, typography, a photo gallery, transitions between images, audio, 360-degree image rotations, and VR. Many demos contain real-time interactive controls. The VR demo requires a browser that supports CSS 3-D transforms -- which, Apple indicates, means Safari on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or on a device using the iPhone OS, or the latest WebKit Nightly Build.
Interestingly, no demo is provided for animation, the media format for which Flash first became known.
The showcase also spotlights about three dozen major sites that are now offering HTML5 content. These include CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, Vimeo, Time, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Netflix, NPR, the National Hockey League, Sports Illustrated, Virgin America, and the White House.
While Adobe is offering HTML5 tools and other major companies such as Google have also backed the standard, the counter argument has been that it is not yet fully implemented to do all the things that Flash can. In addition, Flash is ubiquitous on the web for video and interactive animation, and the question is whether countless web sites will create or substitute an HTML5 version to support Apple's devices.
Last month, Hulu.com announced major Flash-based updates to its popular video site....
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Will iPhone 4G Match Rivals' Bigger Touchscreens?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73728
With Apple likely to launch its new iPhone 4G at next week's Worldwide Developer's Conference, as the company has done for the past three summers, speculation is rampant about what new features might emerge that haven't been seen in two leaked prototypes.
One question is whether CEO Steve Jobs may wow iPhone fans with a larger screen size, said IDC wireless analyst Ramon Llamas. "With 4.0, a lot is predicated on the touchscreen, and so the next question is how big is that screen?" Llamas asked.
The iPhone 4G prototype that turned up on a technology site after being sold for $5,000 had better screen resolution, 960 by 640 pixels, up from the iPhone 3GS's 480 by 320. But the screen was described as slightly smaller than the 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 3GS.
With competing devices mimicking the iPhone's touchscreen with bigger screens, Llamas wonders if Apple will raise, call or pass.
"The HTC HD2 has a 4.3-inch screen," he said of the smartphone currently selling in Europe and Asia and expected on the U.S. market in November. "Other players in the market are testing larger screen size. The question is, does Apple want to go there?"
One reason why Apple may not, he said, is that developers may then have to produce versions of their apps that work on the larger and smaller screens, a problem faced by some Android developers whose products work on multiple devices.
The HTC EVO 4G launched by Sprint on Friday also has a 4.3-inch screen. Dell's Streak tablet/smartphone hybrid, also released Friday in the United Kingdom, has a five-inch screen.
Among the other questions to be answered if Jobs, as expected, releases the iPhone 4G at Apple's WWDC Monday in San Francisco is, if it is different from the prototypes seen by the world,...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Problems Reported as Sprint Rolls Out HTC EVO 4G
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73727
What's been hailed as the hottest Android device of the summer hit store shelves on Friday. Sprint Nextel customers can officially buy the HTC EVO 4G, the first 3G/4G phone, for $199 with a two-year contract.
Sprint is targeting small businesses with its 4G network, promising faster e-mail delivery, quicker file downloads, and the ability to run multiple applications without slowing access. At up to 10 times the speed of 3G, the new network is expected to pave the way for faster web browsing and fewer lags with video conferencing and video streaming.
But initial reports from users indicated that the 4G network was not performing as advertised, and there were problems accessing the memory card. Sprint quickly issued an over-the-air update to correct the card issue. In addition, a web site reported a security problem, saying the Android customization allows an application to "get access to all of your data."
The Android-powered phone offers two cameras, video chat, and simultaneous voice and data. Consumers can plug the EVO 4G into an HDTV and continue watching a movie at home that they started elsewhere.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, acknowledged that the HTC EVO 4G is a "great phone" that's getting "rave reviews." But there are drawbacks to being first to market. As he sees it, most consumers would be wise not to use the 4G service.
"The 4G, much like the initial 3G phones, has lots of problems. One is the coverage isn't there yet. That's actually the smaller of the two problems," Enderle said. "The other problem is it sucks battery like nobody's business, much like the initial 3G phones. The 3G phones were actually good enough that you could get a day of battery life out of them. Right now the 4G phone is...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Dell Streak Tablet/Phone Debuts On U.K.'s O2 Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73726
Dell's Android-based Streak mobile device took its inaugural bows on Telefonica's O2 mobile network in the United Kingdom on Friday. Equipped with a five-inch multi-touch screen, the hybrid tablet/smartphone is the first offering from O2 to become available to subscribers under a data-only plan.
U.K.-based O2 subscribers signing up for a 24-month data plan priced at $36.38 per month -- or an integrated data/voice plan priced at $50.93 per month -- will get the new mobile device free. The Dell Streak, which is slated to become available on AT&T's U.S. network in the latter half of July, also can be purchased from O2 as a no-contract, pay-as-you-go device priced at $580.67.
Although Apple's iPhone did not have a single competitor for a long time, the iPad will have strong competitors -- and the Dell Streak will probably be one, noted IDC Research Manager Francisco Jeronimo. "This does not mean that Apple won't be the leader in this segment, but it will have to be more competitive because the other devices will be a much better value for the money and Apple cannot rely only on its brand," Jeronimo said.
The IDC analyst also thinks there is definitely a market need for a mobile device that falls midway between a netbook and a smartphone. "We will see different form factors being launched throughout this year, with different screen sizes and running different operating systems," Jeronimo said.
Henry Dewing, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, also sees a market need for devices like the Dell Streak that promise to enable mobile information workers to communicate and collaborate.
"This device is important because it is small enough to carry, yet large enough to see video and other digital media," Dewing wrote in a blog. "And it has the hardware features to support collaboration via...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Google Capitulates To Demands for Street View Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73725
With class-action lawsuits and government investigations gaining steam, Google agreed Thursday to hand over private data collected by its Street View vehicles to European investigators. Google had previously resisted such demands, saying it was in conversation with government authorities about destroying the data.
In addition, company CEO Eric Schmidt told the Financial Times this week that an engineer who inserted software into the Street View vehicles' programs -- code that captured the unauthorized information -- is now the subject of an internal company investigation.
At least seven class-action lawsuits have been filed or are being planned in the U.S. in which the plaintiffs contend Google violated federal wiretapping laws. There are also criminal and other government investigations in Germany, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain and others, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been asked by members of Congress to see if laws were broken.
The Street View controversy stems from the collection of private wireless data from Google vehicles, which have ridden down streets worldwide to collect photos for use in the company's Street View application within Google Maps. Google said about 600GB of data was mistakenly collected in 30 countries.
According to Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace, the company has acknowledged it collected SSID information from wireless routers. That information contains Wi-Fi network names and MAC addresses, which are the unique numbers given to Wi-Fi routers. At first, Google said it didn't collect "payload data," or the private information sent over networks.
But Eustace later noted that "we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) Wi-Fi networks." The payload data includes fragments of web sites, e-mails and possibly personal banking data. Eustace added that the data has never been used in Google products, and only fragments were collected because the vehicles were...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Facebook Launches Privacy Page To Appease Critics
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73724
Facebook is moving to appease privacy advocates again -- this time with a new page on its social network that offers resources to educate consumers. The changes come after CEO Mark Zuckerberg stuck up for the company's privacy practices at the All Things Digital technology conference on Wednesday. But it may be too little, too late to fend off the privacy watchdogs.
"Once you get on the wrong side of this issue, there's really nothing you can do to appease the privacy advocates other than going out of business. Facebook is in the business of providing advertisers access to you. That's what funds the service. It's the same way Google search works. You get the services for free in exchange for access to you," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "The privacy advocates want everything to be private -- and free."
On Thursday, Simon Axten, a manager on Facebook's public-policy team, seemed to pick up where Zuckerberg left off in the hot seat at the conference. He officially announced the "Facebook and Privacy Page." The page aims to complement the privacy guide Facebook previously revamped on the site, as well as a series of video tutorials the social-networking giant started publishing last week.
Axten sees the Facebook and Privacy Page as a "living resource" and a "venue to facilitate an interactive discussion about privacy" with Facebook members. This is where Facebook will post updates on relevant new content, products and news stories related to online privacy. The page offers online privacy resources from both Facebook and third-party sources.
"Going forward, we'll be posting updates about new materials we create, tips on how to control your sharing, and links to relevant news stories and viewpoints," Axten said. "We encourage you to 'like' the page to receive those ongoing updates in...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Review: Sega's Alpha Protocol Is Spy vs. Sigh
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73720
Video-gamers know about heartbreak.
You finally get your hands on that game you've been hearing about for years. You dive in and ... well, sure, the beginning's a little slow, but it'll heat up. But as you dig further in, it slowly dawns on you that the more you play, the worse it gets. And in just a few hours, excitement turns to despair -- not just over the $60 you wasted, but also the idea that something so promising could turn out to be so worthless.
Last year, "Brutal Legend" nearly destroyed my faith in everything I thought I liked about games. Earlier this year, my Twitter feed exploded with the howls of angry "Final Fantasy" fans who felt betrayed by the radical changes in that series' latest installment.
The failure of "Alpha Protocol" (Sega, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99) is nearly as crushing. It combines two of my favorite genres -- role-playing game and spy thriller -- and the developers at Obsidian Entertainment have contributed to some of the best-loved RPGs of the last 20 years.
What could go wrong? Nearly everything.
The titular Alpha Protocol is one of those top-secret government agencies that takes on the jobs that are too hot for anyone else to handle. Its current goal is the assassination of a Middle Eastern terrorist, and the agent on the case is a cocky recruit named Michael Thorton. You can adjust some of Thorton's traits at the start -- you can make him a gunslinger or a tech expert, or give him a beard and glasses -- but he's essentially a charmless creep.
You'd think contemporary spy craft would put a premium on stealth, but most of the missions in "Alpha Protocol" devolve into mindless shooting. That might be tolerable if the shootouts were well-executed; instead, they're bogged down...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Google Helps Patent Office Put Data Online
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73704
The Patent Office said yesterday that it has signed a two-year deal with Google to provide bulk downloads of patent and copyright data to the public. Google will provide the service at no charge to the government or to users of the data.
"This is part of a larger effort to make public data, including public statistics and reference data, easier to find, compare, and communicate," said Jon Orwant, engineering manager at Google's Cambridge lab.
Google has received about 10 terabytes of federal patent and copyright data and is now making it available for download at its Google Books Web site. Google said that it has no plans to make money from the service by selling advertising on the site, and that it plans to continue providing the data even after its deal with the Patent Office expires.
Andrew Updegrove, a partner with Gesmer Updegrove LLP, an intellectual property firm in Boston, said making the information available free of charge will be a boon to technology companies and independent inventors.
"It makes it easier for people to defend themselves against patent infringement suits," Updegrove said. Companies facing such lawsuits usually try to invalidate the patent by finding an earlier patent that supersedes it. Finding these older patents is costly and time-consuming, but the Google service will make the process much easier.
The Patent Office struck the deal with Google as part of the Obama administration's effort to increase free electronic access to government documents. It is a stopgap measure to get the data released to the public quickly, while the agency seeks a contractor to build its own data distribution platform to get the documents directly to the public.
The Patent Office already makes individual patent and copyright documents available at its Web site, and Google offers an online patent search service. But the Patent Office...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Google Plans Web App Store for Chrome Browser
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73702
Google later this year will open an app store for its Chrome browser, allowing developers to expose and sell applications such as multimedia magazine content and 3-D games for the latest generation of Web browsers.
Google made the announcement at its annual I/O developers' conference, which attracted 5,000 software developers from 66 countries. Google executives declined to be specific about a launch date.
The idea behind what Google calls the Chrome Web Store is that in recent years the most important new software applications run in a Web browser, rather than on a computer's desktop, but there is no equivalent to Apple's app store for the Web.
"It's been really hard for users to discover applications on the Web," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google.
As one example, Terry McDonell, editor of Sports Illustrated, showed off a magazine app still in development that featured video embedded within the text, along with interactive embedded advertising that would not only demonstrate a product such as a camera, but could also point consumers to the nearest store to buy one. There would also be a tool to allow readers to share content with their friends.
"It's really a very simple idea," McDonell said of SI's app. "It's to somehow put together the best of the Web with the best of the magazine, to pull out the absolutely most important things in the DNA of the magazine and transfer them in a way that they are even more enjoyable, like photography, for example."
And most important, he added, touching on an issue precious to newspaper and magazine publishers, the app would be good enough that SI could charge for it.
Google said the app store would be available for its Chrome browser, as well as the Chrome operating system the company is developing for netbooks and laptops....
Sat, 5 Jun 10
For SMBs, Custom Tabs Boost Facebook Pages
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73701
Recently Facebook created, and then quickly recalled, a restriction on pages that customize their opening page, known as a landing tab. Businesses use this so that first-time visitors see a welcome graphic rather than landing in the middle of a "comment" page, or Wall.
During the one-day change, page administrators could set up an opening tab only if they had at least 10,000 fans -- now called 'likes' -- or had spent at least $25,000 in advertising on Facebook.
After an uproar from the business community, Facebook opened the customization back up to everyone and said in a statement: "We apologize for the inconvenience this caused to our developer and business community. We are re-investigating the situation, and will not make any further changes without first giving our community standard notice and lead-time."
For small businesses that don't have landing tabs, it's time to set one up. You can see some examples of this on company pages such as Victoria's Secret PINK, Dunkin' Donuts, Skittles, Dove and Macy's.
If you are an admin for a page, here are a few free tools you can use to create a custom tab. (But note that once someone marks that they like the page, they will see the Wall on the first visit):
* To create a custom tab, you'll need the Static FBML application. Search Facebook for Static FBML, and then click to add the app. Go back to your fan page, click on "edit page," and that's where you can customize the Static FBML with some html. When done, add the custom tab by hitting the "+" tab.
* To change what tab shows up first, admins can click on "Settings," directly under the "Share" button on the Wall page. A drop-down menu allows you to choose the default landing tab for non-fans.
* On Facebook, you can...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Review: Ooma Telo Is a Great Internet Phone Device
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73699
I've tried many gadgets that send my home phone calls over the Internet, but only one has really done a good job of it: the Ooma. Although it has been around for a couple of years, it recently trotted out an upgrade that promises even better call quality, plus some other bells and whistles.
That intrigued me enough to take a look at the latest model. My verdict: For most home users, Ooma may not have gotten much better, but it's still the best one I know of.
When the first Ooma device, the Hub, came out in 2007, its core proposition was this: Pay $250 for a box that's the size of an answering machine, hook it up to your broadband line and home phone, and get unlimited domestic calls for free -- for life.
That was a good deal, especially since the Ooma had stellar audio quality and reliability, something the other Internet phone services lacked. Being a techno-optimist, I had dragged home a succession of other phone devices over the years, only to have them all nixed by my wife, who uses the home line more than I do. "Horrible" was her judgment on Internet telephony.
The Hub passed the wife test, and I have been using it at home for more than a year, feeling confident enough to ditch my traditional phone line. There were two service outages early on, but since then, it's worked great, and it's already paid for itself.
Late last year, Ooma launched a new model, the Telo, which is the basis for all the new features. However, it also started to look as if Ooma's original offer was too good -- at least for the company. The service is no longer free for life: Buy a new Telo, and you'll have to pay $11.95 per...
Sat, 5 Jun 10
German Minister: Facebook Data Privacy Not Good Enough
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73693
Facebook still isn't doing enough to protect users' data, Germany's consumer protection minister said Thursday, adding that she plans to give up her account.
The minister, Ilse Aigner, first raised concerns about Facebook two months ago, urging the network to upgrade its privacy settings.
Last week, in response to a backlash among users, Facebook announced that it was simplifying its privacy controls and applying them retroactively, so users can protect the status updates and photos they posted in the past.
Those changes were "a first step in the right direction, but I still have my doubts as to whether these improvements will really bring a true turning point," Aigner said after meeting Richard Allan, Facebook's director of European public policy.
Aigner said the meeting "unfortunately confirmed my skepticism."
She said she plans to leave the network, but will remain in contact with Facebook managers and "will not rest until data protection is improved decisively."
The changes so far aren't enough "to protect the privacy of users and to comply with our German law, which has higher standards than elsewhere in the world and America," Aigner added.
She complained that the network's data protection system remains too complicated and geared toward opting out of sharing information rather than opting in.
Aigner has also harshly criticized Google Inc. for failing to respect German data protection regulations through its Street View mapping program.
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Ballmer Insists Tablets Are the Next Stage in PC Evolution
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73710
Reports of the PC's demise have been greatly exaggerated, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at The Wall Street Journal's eighth annual All Things Digital conference near Los Angeles on Thursday. His comment came one day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted that tablets like Apple's iPad will ultimately relegate desktop and laptop PCs to secondary use.
"I think people are going to be using PCs in greater and greater numbers for many years to come," the Journal quoted Ballmer as saying.
The Microsoft CEO argued that tablets are essentially the next stage in the PC's evolution, and thus inseparable from that classification of device, noting that while the devices might be different in terms of appearance and components, they appeal to the same market.
But Ballmer conceded that Microsoft has "a lot of work to do" to catch up with the iPad, whose sales have topped two million in the first two months on the market.
Microsoft beat Apple to the tablet market by a few weeks in January, displaying at CES three of what Ballmer called slate tablets from Hewlett-Packard, ARCHOS and Pegatron that were basically small computers running Windows 7. "Our OEM partners are doing great work with some slate PCs that will be rolling into the market late this year," Ballmer said then, adding that "the emerging category of PCs really should take advantage of the touch, mobility and capability of Windows 7."
But those devices bored reviewers and haven't generated anything close to the excitement Apple has achieved with the iPad. And Hewlett-Packard has reportedly dropped Windows 7 from its upcoming tablet and may be planning to use webOS, which it acquired when it recently bought Palm.
Still, Ballmer insisted Microsoft will be competitive in the tablet field with Windows installed on more devices -- though...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
AT&T's Data Plans Seem Aimed at Next Generation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73709
Mobile-industry observers are scrambling to assess the ramifications of AT&T's announcement Wednesday that it will scrap its unlimited mobile data plan for new smartphone customers. Two new offerings slated for introduction on June 7 will be priced at $15 per month for 200MB and $25 per month for 2GB, the company said.
AT&T said 65 percent of its existing mobile data-plan subscribers would have their monthly data needs met by the new $15 plan, while 98 percent would be served by the $25 offering. However, the wireless carrier added that subscribers who exceed monthly data caps will have to pay overage fees: $15 for each additional 200MB under AT&T's lower-cost offering and $10 for each additional 1GB of data under the higher-priced plan.
Both data plans represent an opportunity for virtually all of AT&T's data customers to reduce their monthly data charges, noted Charles Golvin, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. "For consumer-product strategists, this change shows a remarkably -- and, for some, surprisingly -- customer-centric viewpoint," Golvin wrote in a blog.
The new capped-data plans potentially give AT&T a better handle on the minority of smartphone subscribers who download huge amounts of data. But Golvin thinks there are more important reasons for carriers to adopt new data-pricing strategies, such as earning more revenue when they launch next-generation 4G networks, which will enable users to consume significantly more data than today's networks can deliver.
"They need a pricing strategy that will allow them to charge a premium and extract greater value from these networks," Golvin wrote. "Flat-rate pricing will prevent them from realizing that value and limits their future data revenue," whereas the new pricing strategy will enable AT&T "to charge a premium and extract greater value."
But not everyone is certain about the long-term effects of AT&T's new pricing strategy....
Fri, 4 Jun 10
FTC Cracks Down on RemoteSpy Keylogger Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73708
The Federal Trade Commission has clamped down on a company that sells a keylogger. On Wednesday, the agency announced a settlement with CyberSpy Software barring it from advertising that its RemoteSpy keylogger can be disguised and installed on someone's computer without the user's knowledge.
The settlement, which resulted in a court order by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, also requires that the program give notice to the user that the software has been downloaded, and the user must agree to installation. It also prohibits the company from disguising the program as a harmless attachment. The final settlement was accepted unanimously by the FTC, 5-0.
In addition, the agency said, the settlement requires the Orlando, Fla.-based company to "take measures to reduce the risk that their spyware is misused, encrypt data transmitted over the Internet, police their affiliates to ensure they comply with the order, and remove legacy versions of the software from computers" on which the program is already installed.
The FTC originally sued CyberSpy and its owner, Tracer R. Spence, in 2008 for advertising and selling RemoteSpy. CyberSpy's ads had bragged that it was "100 percent undetectable" and that purchasers could "Spy on Anyone. From Anywhere."
The agency said in court papers that the company provided step-by-step instructions on how to make the software look like it was a harmless file, such as a photo, and then attach it to an e-mail. When the attachment was downloaded, the RemoteSpy program installed without the user's knowledge.
Once installed, the keylogger records every keystroke, such as passwords, captures images, and keeps track of web sites visited by the user. The program then reports this information back to a web site run by CyberSpy, where clients could log on to retrieve the private data.
On its web site,...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Rdio Music Service Adds Mobile and Social Networking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73707
While the Apple-loving world waits to hear about the iPod maker's plans for Lala, a new social music service is vying to turn heads in the digital-music arena. Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström and Atomico, a technology investment group, have founded Rdio. Pronounced r-dee-o, the company has big ambitions to change the way people access, discover and pay for music.
p
It won't be the first digital-music company to launch with that premise, but analysts said Rdio may have a chance to make an impact. Rdio has already inked deals with EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, along with a number of the leading indie aggregators of digital music.
p
The key here is the ability to integrate mobile, media and social networks into something that's differentiated, said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. That's where Rdio looks interesting. By adding a social component, it's not just yet another music subscription service.
p
subhead
A Constant Stream on Demand
/subhead
p
Rdio promises to improve the way consumers find and share music, as well as the way they access music via a web browser and on smartphones with its unlimited, on-demand model. Rdio will make available five million songs for a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 for web and mobile access (including syncing music) and $4.99 a month for web-only access.
p
Many digital-music services have tried to address specific challenges, but no one has managed to elegantly integrate discovery and a high-quality music streaming experience under one roof, Friis said. We think people are ready for the next evolution in music.
p
Of course, Rdio is betting it has the secret sauce: A constant stream of new, relevant music accessible via web browser and smartphone and easily shareable. Rdio CEO Drew Larner went so far as to say that Rdio has an opportunity...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Clickjackers Exploit Invisible Facebook 'Like' Button
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73706
It's not the Paramore leaked photo. And it's not Justin Bieber's phone number. But it's a clickjacking scam that's spreading rapidly across a social-networking site that's already plagued with privacy issues. Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users are falling into a scammer trap to post messages to their personal pages indicating they like a malicious link.
p
Subject lines on the tricky messages include LOL This girl gets OWNED after a POLICE OFFICER reads her STATUS MESSAGE, This man takes a picture of himself EVERYDAY for 8 YEARS!!, The Prom Dress That Got This Girl Suspended From School, and This Girl Has An Interesting Way Of Eating A Banana, Check It Out!
p
Facebook users who click on the link are escorted to what looks like a nearly blank page with the message: Click here to continue. What Facebook users don't know is that there is hidden IFrame code in the page. So when they click anywhere on the infected page, the IFrame posts a message to their Facebook page.
p
subhead
The Invisible Like Button
/subhead
p
According to Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos, the worms all exploit Facebook's new Like social plug-in that the social network rolled out recently. The Like feature expands upon a user's existing ability to say they Like any Facebook page to say they also Like external third-party web pages.
p
Clicking at any point of the page publishes the same message -- via an invisible IFrame -- to the visiting users' own Facebook page without their permission, Cluley said. Effectively, there is a huge invisible button underneath your mouse which means wherever you click on the page, you are clicking that you 'Like the page.' And so it spreads further and further.
p
How dangerous is it? Cluley noted that it spreads very quickly as friends share the viral links with each other....
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Nokia Releases Bike Charger and Dual-SIM Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73705
In a press conference Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, Nokia announced four new, low-cost cell phones, including two with dual SIMs -- plus a phone battery charger powered by a bicycle. The new devices can help strengthen the Finnish device maker's already powerful presence in emerging markets.
p
Three of the phones are part of the company's C1 series, and one -- coming out at the end of the year -- is labeled the C2. The C1-00 is the first to offer a dual SIM.
p
By simply holding down a key, said Nokia Vice President Alex Lambeek, people are able to switch between SIM cards. He added that this allows a user to take advantage of reduced call rates, provides flexibility when traveling between countries, and makes it easier for sharing between users -- each with a separate phone number.
p
subhead
Ovi Life Tools
/subhead
p
The C1-00 will also offer a standby battery life of up to six weeks, which Nokia said is the longest ever for one of its mobile phones, and it has a small flashlight and an FM radio.
p
The C1-01 and C1-02 are both single-SIM devices, up to 32GB, and each has an FM radio and a VGA camera.
p
The C2, also with dual SIMs up to 32GB, has dual standby capability. This means that calls and text messages can come to either phone number on the SIMs. One of the two SIMs is hot-swappable, so it can be exchanged while the phone is on. The four phones range from about $37 for the C1 to about $45 for the C2.
p
The C2 also features information on health care, agriculture, education and entertainment within Nokia's Ovi Life Tools, and an Ovi Mail e-mail account designed for the developing world.
p
subhead
'Smart Moves'
/subhead
p
The bicycle charger kit fastens onto a bike, and the dynamo, or small electrical generator, uses...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Facebook's Privacy Tweaks a Vast Improvement
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73703
With all the attention Facebook is getting over privacy, you'd think the social-networking giant was springing as many leaks as BP. While not that dire, Facebook privacy settings have been an oily mess. Even CEO Mark Zuckerberg conceded they needed to be a whole lot simpler.
p
I've been digging into the new privacy settings Facebook is rolling out to address the issues. The basic promise is that you can control a swath of privacy settings with a single click, though you can fine-tune. Facebook also reduced the info that can be seen by anyone on the Internet. It made it simpler to turn off applications and Web sites you're no longer interested in.
p
Not everyone is satisfied. While approving of Facebook's direction, Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, told me in an e-mail that users are still very frustrated. The larger lesson is that we can't rely on Facebook to decide for the users how much privacy there will be.
p
The issues have been anything but simple. Facebook members -- approaching a half-billion globally -- are encouraged to openly disclose personal information. It is what fuels the social in social networking and helps you make new friends or reconnect with old ones.
p
Of course, the more detailed the data that you do choose to share -- political beliefs, hobbies, religious practices, past and present affiliations -- the more you're helping Facebook make money. Marketers can target ads to specific groups, tailoring an ad, say, to all members in Chicago who love hockey's Blackhawks. The ads are anonymous: Zuckerberg insists Facebook doesn't share any of your personal information with advertisers.
p
Facebook's challenge is to convince the public that the good vastly outweighs the bad -- which I believe it does. A recent bug, since fixed, that under certain circumstances would...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
For Silicon Valley Exec, His Wish Is Robots' Command
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73680
When Dave Evans was 12 years old, he fashioned a broom handle into a crude but functional mechanical hand, complete with moving digits and tendons. Today, at 43, he's still tinkering with robots, albeit with a markedly bigger budget.
p
Evans works as chief futurist in network equipment maker Cisco Systems' consulting group in San Jose, where he helps customers adopt new technology. In his spare time, he's built Halie, a virtual assistant that helps around the office by pulling files, finding weather reports, and adjusting the thermostat. Evans talks to Halie, who appears as a young woman on a special screen in his office, uttering his commands in everyday language.
p
I'm obsessed with this intersection between humans and machines, says Evans, who estimates he's spent tens of thousands of dollars of his own money building robots over the past 30 years. While he's a Cisco employee, Evans' robots are his own creations and, for now, he hasn't developed a robot for Cisco or its customers.
p
In addition to Halie, Evans also builds physical robots in his home that check e-mail, control lights, and watch for intruders. The hobby is so time-consuming that Evans equates it with a second full-time job. You do need friends and family that are tolerant, he says.
p
subhead
'Surging Interest in Robotics'
/subhead
p
Evans is part of an inveterate tradition of Silicon Valley tinkerers whose fixation with computers and electronics often exceeds the boundaries of the workday. As many as 80 people attend monthly meetings of the Valley's HomeBrew Robotics Club, which dates from 1982 (though Evans isn't a member). About 10 attendees work for robotics companies; the rest are hobbyists, says club president Wayne Gramlich.
p
There's a huge, surging interest in robotics, says Gramlich. In the late '90s, perhaps a dozen members attended the meetings, he says. Experts say there's been a groundswell...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
How To Give a 'TED-Worthy' Presentation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73678
Even though this year's TED conference wrapped up in February, I've been contacted multiple times over the past few months by executives who want advice on how to give TED-worthy talks in their own shops. For those unfamiliar with TED, the annual event brings some of the world's brightest thinkers to Long Beach, Calif., to share ideas on diverse topics with the goal of changing the world. Despite charges of elitism -- or perhaps because of it -- TED, which charges $6,000 to attend in person, offers videos of the presentations free on its Web site. The videos are inspiring, fascinating, and thought-provoking. Beyond that, the speakers' delivery is excellent. Here are pointers I've culled from the talks. I suggest business leaders consider using them to improve their own presentations.
p
1. Keep it brief. TED is notable for limiting presentations to 18 minutes. I've written previously about the power of brevity.If scientist Stephen Wolfram, the creator of Mathematica, the world's most powerful global computation system, can offer an 18-minute presentation on his quest to make all human knowledge computational and searchable, then you can surely deliver your team update in the same amount of time or less. Einstein once said that nothing is so complicated that it cannot be explained simply. TED talks prove it.
p
2. Talk about something you're passionate about. One of the most distinguishing traits of TED speakers is the most difficult to teach: The presentations are exciting and inspiring because the speakers are passionate about their subjects. Whether it's Al Gore talking about global warming or Ken Robinson discussing a new model for public education, the talks are powerful because they are delivered by people who care deeply about their topic and in many cases, have spent their careers obsessing over the content. If you're not genuinely thrilled...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Darwin at Work: Survival of the Fittest Companies
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73677
Just a few days after my wife and I returned from our vacation in the Galapagos Islands, Wall Street Journal taste columnist Eric Felten published a fascinating article about The Impossible Project, a last-ditch effort by Austrian entrepreneur Florian Kaps to save an endangered commercial species, the Polaroid instant camera.
p
The last Polaroid film factory, in a suburb of Amsterdam, was about to be torn down, with demolition delayed by the sour economy. Aware that many Polaroid enthusiasts still exist around the world, especially in the arts communities, Kaps stepped in to save the old plant. He executed an eleventh-hour lease and hired Andre Bosman, the factory's former chief engineer, to recreate the magic film and save it from extinction.
p
For the time being, at least, the project is moving forward. The first batch of sepia-tinted black-and-white film went on sale in March. Color film is promised by summer. Kaps' intervention -- what we typically refer to as conservation when plants and animals are involved -- had saved an endangered species.
p
It's not often we think of companies or products as species, but perhaps we should. It might help us to understand more clearly both product and company life cycles -- how some adapt and change while others go the way of the buggy whip (which, for the record, are still made by U.S. companies such as Westfield Whip Manufacturing in Westfield, Mass.).
p
subhead
The Origin of Tropical Penguins
/subhead
p
Before I discuss companies as species, however, let me introduce you to Eileen, my wife. Eileen is a molecular geneticist who specializes in endangered plant species and works at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Her most recent paper (with co-authors Joyce Maschinski and Jeremie Fant) was published in February under the title Using genetic and morphological analysis to distinguish endangered taxa from their hybrids.
p
Eileen had long wanted to...
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Yahoo Faces Privacy Test with New E-Mail Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73671
Yahoo Inc. is hoping to turn on a new sharing option in its popular e-mail service without shocking users who prize their privacy.
p
That's why the Internet company is advising its 280 million e-mail accountholders to review their privacy settings along with their incoming messages.
p
Yahoo posted the privacy reminder this week as it prepares to unveil new features that will share its e-mail users' online activities and interests with people listed in their address books unless they take steps to prevent the information from being broadcast. The new sharing tools will be appearing in people's e-mail accounts this month.
p
Another addition already available in some accounts allows people to use Yahoo's e-mail service as a platform for posting comments on Facebook, the Web's top spot for swapping information with family and friends. An e-mail link to Twitter's messaging service is coming this summer.
p
Yahoo has been testing and talking about these changes for months, but it's treading carefully after seeing both Facebook and Google Inc. stumble recently when they retooled their services so more personal information would appear on the Web. Some of those changes irked users, privacy watchdogs and lawmakers. The outcry prompted Facebook and Google to develop simpler privacy settings to give people greater control over what gets shared online.
p
Yahoo is trying to avoid a similar privacy backlash by providing users the opportunity to opt out of the e-mail service's new social features with the click of a button. The company also is promising not to expose a person's e-mail contacts to the public, a mistake that Google acknowledged making when it set up a social network called Buzz within its own e-mail service four months ago.
Fri, 4 Jun 10
Media Server Creates a Multimedia Living Room
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73664
Many dream of having a multimedia setup at home. Few know what that actually entails.
p
In essence, it means music and video stored on a computer are streamed through client devices, appearing anywhere from a high-definition television, to a stereo to an Internet radio.
p
But how does it work, one might ask. At its core, the system is controlled via a media server -- armed with the right software -- that directs the flow of media recorded and played back throughout a home, so the right song appears right where you want it.
p
The basic question is whether one's server should be one's computer or a dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) device, says Volker Zota of c't, a German technology magazine.
p
Many NAS devices designed for home use come with media servers pre-installed. Those can be configured via a computer's web browser. Once the right accounts are set up, it's time to start streaming data.
p
Software like Twonky Media Server offer NAS streaming and multimedia services for most devices, says Andreas Arndt of Buffalo Technology, which manufactures such devices. Such software is the most common solution to the problem of how to create a network, says Zota.
p
It's important when streaming data via a NAS to upgrade software regularly. Then there's good reason to be optimistic that new, up- and-coming data formats will be installed eventually.
p
If you opt to turn your PC into the server and use Windows 7 or Vista as your operating system, then programs like Media Connect can stream data with the Windows Media Player, says Christoph Elzer of Chip, another German computer magazine.
p
It's easy for beginners to set up and, besides, it's recognized as a client device. Media Connect can be downloaded for free for Windows XP.
p
The real question is which software to use if a person opts against both NAS and Media...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Steve Jobs Says iPad-Like Tablets will Replace PCs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73690
Casting its new technology as the cusp of a revolution seems to be standard operating procedure at Apple. In announcing the iPhone in 2007, CEO Steve Jobs said it was "a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone."
And, true to form, Jobs is depicting Apple's fast-selling iPad -- now at two million devices and counting -- as the harbinger of doom for the personal computer -- or at least its centrality in our digital lives.
At Tuesday's All Things Digital Conference, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, Jobs, in response to a question by the Journal's Steve Mossberg, said it's only a matter of time before tablets like the iPad replace laptops.
"The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways," said Jobs, as quoted in media reports. "The PC is brilliant ... and we like to talk about the post-PC era, but it's uncomfortable."
Referring to the time when we were an "agrarian nation," Jobs said trucks used by farmers were more common than cars until urban driving fueled the demand for more cars.
"PCs are going to be like trucks," he said, less common but still important, while tablets like the iPad, which he said Apple is selling at a rate of one every three seconds, will increasingly catch on as they pick up more features.
"He's certainly being provocative," said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "It's a bit too early to tell whether tablets will displace PCs for most users. However, it is clear that relatively low-powered PCs, netbooks, are providing much of the growth in the PC industry, that mobility is crucial, and that Apple has produced the first...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
AT&T Offers 'More Affordable' Wireless Data Plans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73689
Just days before the expected launch of the iPhone 4G, AT&T is making significant changes to its wireless data pricing plans. The company is positioning the new plans as "more affordable" for people who want to use the mobile Internet by abandoning the one-price-fits-all model.
Essentially, new customers can choose between two data plans: A $15-a-month entry plan or a $25-a-month plan that offers 10 times more data. Existing customers can stick with the plan they have until their contract expires, or they can migrate to a new plan without adding time to their contract.
Regardless of the plan they choose, AT&T is offering unlimited access to more than 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots in the U.S. at no additional charge. Customers can also use unlimited Wi-Fi anywhere else it's available, such as in the home or the workplace. The new plan also offers a tethering option.
"This is good for AT&T. Over time, this will help them regulate how much data they are pumping through the networks," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "It's common knowledge that there's a limited amount of bandwidth and offering truly unlimited plans isn't profitable -- and in some cases it isn't even possible."
As Greengart sees it, the plan AT&T is embarking on opens up the market in important ways. First, the $15-a-month option, called the DataPlus plan, can save customers up to 50 percent off their wireless data charges and is designed for people who primarily like to surf the web, send e-mail, and use social-networking apps.
"If what you've been looking for is a smartphone-class device, but you are not convinced that you are going to be using a tremendous amount of data or you can't afford today's $30-a-month plan, this opens up smartphones to a whole different...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Mozilla Plans Firefox Revamp as IE Gains Market Share
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73688
Mozilla is moving to revamp its browser in advance of the release of Firefox 4 toward the end of the year, with one of the priorities the transformation of the user interface to be less cluttered and more visually appealing. But Mozilla will need to move fast if it's going to counter the surprising growth that Internet Explorer racked up in the U.S. market last month.
Mozilla has high hopes for an experimental service called Weaver Sync, which gives users access to their browser data across multiple computing platforms. Renamed Firefox Sync, the technology indexes and encrypts the user's browser history, passwords, bookmarks, form information, preferences and tabs for remote storage on a server.
The bad news for Mozilla is that Microsoft's IE gained more than three-quarters of a percent of market share across all operating systems during May in the U.S., according to Net Applications. By contrast, the market shares held by Google's Chrome and Firefox slipped almost 0.5 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively.
It has been quite a while since IE last made the kind of gains seen in the U.S. for May, noted Net Applications Executive Vice President Vince Vizzaccaro. "As for the reasons why, it appears Microsoft is segmenting the browser market geographically and attacking each segment the best way they see fit," Vizzaccaro said.
The U.S. is Microsoft's core market and therefore a top-priority segment, Vizzaccaro said. "I think the market's acceptance of IE8 along with the knowledge that IE9 is coming soon are providing consumers confidence that Microsoft will continue to devote resources to ongoing improvement of IE," Vizzaccaro added. "I wouldn't at all be surprised to see other geographical segments start to show the rebound we've seen in the U.S."
The news isn't any better for Mozilla on the global front, where...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Motorola Launches FlipOut with Enhanced MOTOBLUR
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73686
Motorola is hoping smartphone consumers will flip out over its latest wireless handset. The company's newest device in its Android-powered comeback is the FlipOut.
The FlipOut is a small, square phone that centers on individualism. The device offers up to seven customizable home screens, live wallpapers and enhanced security for Exchange Server users. The FlipOut is available in licorice, fairway green, raspberry crush, brilliant blue, poppy red, saffron and white.
Running on Android 2.1, the FlipOut's design opens to reveal a five-row QWERTY keypad with a separate row for numeric keys. With amped-up MOTOBLUR features, Motorola says the FlipOut makes it easier for users to follow who and what matters to them on popular social networks.
When analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis thinks of the FlipOut, he's reminded of Motorola's Backflip, which offers what he calls a similarly interesting form factor.
"The Backflip's form factor does help the phone stand out at retail. It's a different-looking kind of phone than everything else out there," Greengart said. "So polarizing form factors like this one are sometimes good. If you are polarized, that means some people hate it and some people love it. It's not vanilla."
The FlipOut offers multi-touch pinch and zoom for web and photo browsing, as well as a connected media player with full-screen lyric support, integrated song ID, and a social solution so users know what other people are listening to.
The new device also comes equipped with a three-megapixel camera with digital zoom and a gallery mode for tagging and labeling photos. FlipOut users get one-touch uploads to Facebook, MySpace, Picasa and Photobucket.
When Motorola launched MOTOBLUR, its take on the Android experience, the company hailed it as a major competitive differentiator. Now the company is making improvements. Greengart said it was time for an upgrade...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Google Drops Windows in Aftermath of Hacker Attack
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73685
Google is dropping Windows. The search giant will use Mac or Linux operating systems on all employee computers because of security concerns about Microsoft's Windows.
The Financial Times, quoting several unnamed Google employees, reported the story on Tuesday. It said the move away from Windows began in January after the search giant was attacked by hackers in China. Most Google employees are choosing Mac, one source told the Times. Google hasn't commented on the report.
Microsoft's head of corporate communications, Frank X. Shaw, noted in a Twitter post that the Chinese security breaches involved "IE 6 and employee behavior," not Windows per se. "Something's not right w/the FT.com Google-dumps-Windows story," he wrote. Except for Shaw's tweets, Microsoft hasn't commented on the report.
If a Google employee wants to remain on Windows, special clearance is reportedly required from senior executives, and getting a new Windows machine requires specific approval from the company's CIO.
The security breach was reported by Google in mid-January. In a post on the Official Google Blog, Chief Legal Officer David Drummond revealed that, in "mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google."
The attack, he noted, was not just on Google, but on a "wide range of businesses" involved in the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors. Drummond said "a primary goal was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists," which was apparently not successful. Reports by independent security consultants indicated that the attackers appear to have been working directly or indirectly on behalf of Chinese government intelligence agencies.
According to iDefense Labs, an independent security company, the December attack used malicious code delivered via PDF e-mail attachments, which deposited a backdoor Trojan as a Windows DLL.
Like...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Facebook Advertising Zooms as Quit Protest Fizzles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73683
Quit Facebook Day was a flop. Memorial Day was designated by a group of angry users as the date on which they and fellow Facebookers could show their displeasure over privacy issues by deleting their accounts.
But, as it turned out, slightly more than 34,000 reportedly did so -- barely a drop in the bucket of 540 million members worldwide.
"Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren't fair choices," the QuitFacebookDay.com site says on its home page. Adding that Facebook has put the onus "on the individual to manage these choices," the organizers conclude that Facebook doesn't have "much respect for you or your data."
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the Quit Facebook Day was "largely irrelevant" to the site's user base. The site "would need to do something fairly egregious to make a big enough dent in their membership," he said, adding that CEO Mark Zuckerberg's apology and release of simplified privacy controls last week may have "lanced the boil."
But the weak showing on Monday doesn't mean the protests are over. The next organized event is Facebook Protest Day, described as "D-Day" and scheduled, appropriately, for the D-Day anniversary date of June 6.
On that date, instead of storming French beaches, participants are asked to "commit to not logging in or interacting with Facebook in any way." This includes not using sites that employ Facebook Connect or clicking on any "Like" buttons.
Like buttons were one of the reasons for the current protests. Last month, the popular social-networking site launched new features which make a user's likes and dislikes available on partner sites. Like buttons, which have quickly become famous, are placed on the partner sites to reflect the user's interest in the site, photos, blog posts, songs...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Foxconn Boosts Worker Pay Even More
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73673
Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, shaken by a spate of suicides at its China plants, said Wednesday it is raising the pay of workers by 30 percent, a greater increase than first planned.
The company, which makes iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets, said the pay increase will take effect immediately at its plants across China.
"With the pay raise, we hope workers don't need to work overtime as much and thus gain more time for leisure and have a happier working environment," said a Foxconn official who asked for anonymity because he was not an authorized spokesman.
"It may also help cut the turnover rate and raise productivity and product quality level," he said.
The basic salary at Foxconn's China plants is currently about 900 yuan ($130) per month.
Foxconn had been considering raising pay for months to cope with a labor shortage following China's recovery from the global recession. The eventual raise is higher than the 20 percent the company had initially planned.
Ten workers have killed themselves and three have attempted suicide at Foxconn's operations in southern China this year, involving mainly workers who jumped from buildings. The most recent suicide attempt involved a 25-year-old man who slashed his wrists in the factory dormitory last week. One additional Foxconn worker in northern China also committed suicide this year.
Labor activists accuse the company of having a rigid management style, an excessively fast assembly line and forced overwork. Foxconn denies the allegations.
The company, part of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is the world's largest contract maker of electronics. Its long list of big-name customers include Apple Inc., Sony Corp., Dell Inc., Nokia Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Last week, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou led a media tour of the company's mammoth industrial park in Shenzhen and promised to work harder to prevent more deaths.
Safety nets were being...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Keep Your Windows 7 Computer Running Fast
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73663
So you bought a new computer to run Windows 7, and you're happy with the new PC's speed. It's fast and responsive. But here's the challenge: how to keep it that way?
It's not as easy as you think. If you've spent much time at all with PCs, you know that over time, your computer seems to run slower, takes longer to boot up, and might even start to exhibit erratic behavior. But you can fight back by adopting the following guidelines for keeping your PC running its best, regardless of whether you're running Windows 7 or an earlier version.
Installing too much software is the primary reason that computers get slower over time. So if you're starting fresh with a new computer or a new operating system installation, commit to installing only the applications that you use or need on a daily basis. The other programs -- including freeware or shareware that you download just to try out -- should be installed first on another machine until you figure out whether they earn the right to make it to your primary PC.
And if that approach doesn't sound feasible, then enlist the help of a program such as Revo Uninstaller (http://bit.ly/16Omp) that monitors program installations so that offensive applications can be removed entirely if you decide they're not worth keeping. Windows' Programs and Features utility, which is what people typically turn to in order to uninstall an application, too often leaves behind files, registry entries, and other system-cluttering debris.
There's another reason to keep your system free of unnecessary software: your hard disk. Assuming you use a conventional drive rather than a solid state disk (SSD), your hard disk will become sluggish as it fills up with data. That's because the read-write heads have to travel farther as programs and...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
E-Readers on Display at Computer Show in Taiwan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73657
Taiwanese electronics firms displayed a slew of e-readers at an industry show Tuesday, with one maker unveiling a lightweight model that can display a full magazine page in color.
The color model -- developed by Delta Electronics Inc. and expected to go on sale by December -- stood out among a number of monochrome e-readers at the Computex Show in Taiwan.
Named e-Magazine, the model uses particle-based technologies that Delta has developed in collaboration with Japan's Bridgestone Corp., in contrast with ink-based technologies available in the market.
The 13-inch display would allow users to read a magazine page by page without scrolling it up and down like the smaller sized e-readers on the market, said Delta executive Hui Lee.
E-Magazine -- about half the weight of Apple Inc.'s iPad -- is made especially for professionals to read magazines or documents with color charts, Lee said.
Apple's iPad and some e-readers sport LCD displays, which can show color. But those are harder to see in sunlight, cause eye-fatigue and consume much more power than the e-paper displays used in other e-readers.
While Delta's new technology is yet to be tested by the market, most other e-readers displayed at the industry show use ink-based displays.
Taiwan, a leading player in the digital book market, also supplies monochrome displays for Amazon's Kindle and Sony's e-Readers.
A leading supplier of the e-paper displays is Prime View International Co., a Taiwanese firm that obtained the cutting-edge electronic ink technologies by acquiring Cambridge, Mass.-based E-Ink.
At the show, Acer Inc., the world's second largest PC vendor, displayed a 6-inch e-reader, Lumiread. It comes with a camera that allows a user to scan a book's bar code to find out if it has a digital version for downloading.
Acer is working with leading publishers in the U.S., China and Germany to market the product in the third...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
CDC Software Earnings Outlook Misses Forecast
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73656
Business software maker CDC Software Corp. indicated Tuesday that earnings in 2010 and 2011 would be lower than what Wall Street was expecting, but revenue would be higher.
CDC Software said it expects to earn $1.15 to $1.25 per share in 2010, excluding certain items, on adjusted revenue of $220 million to $230 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of $1.27 per share and $219 million in revenue.
For 2011, the software maker forecasts earnings of $1.35 to $1.45 per share, excluding items, on $245 million to $255 million in adjusted revenue. Analysts have been predicting earnings of $1.48 per share and $238 million in revenue.
CDC Software cited strong sales in its software-as-a-service business, which sells customers access to programs running on servers operated by CDC, rather than the traditional software licenses for programs that customers install and maintain on their own.
But the company has made several recent acquisitions as it expands the software-as-a-service part of its business, which it said will weigh on results in the near future.
"As a result, we believe that we will recognize less revenue up front compared to our traditional license model, and will also be realizing more expenses in R&D, sales and marketing and other integration-related costs," Bruce Cameron, president of CDC Software, said in a statement.
The company said its 2010 guidance also reflects possible effects of two to three "significant" potential acquisitions.
Shares fell 26 cents, or 3 percent, to $8.28 in early afternoon trading.
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Software Glitch Shows U.S. Military's Reliance on GPS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73654
A problem that rendered as many as 10,000 U.S. military GPS receivers useless for days is a warning to safeguard a system that enemies would love to disrupt, a defense expert says.
The Air Force has not said how many weapons, planes or other systems were affected or whether any were in use in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the problem, blamed on incompatible software, highlights the military's reliance on the Global Positioning System and the need to protect technology that has become essential for protecting troops, tracking vehicles and targeting weapons.
"Everything that moves uses it," said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, which tracks military and homeland security news. "It is so central to the American style of war that you just couldn't leave home without it."
The problem occurred when new software was installed in ground control systems for GPS satellites on Jan. 11, the Air Force said.
Officials said between 8,000 at 10,000 receivers could have been affected, out of more than 800,000 in use across the military.
In a series of e-mails to The Associated Press, the Air Force initially blamed a contractor for defective software in the affected receivers but later said it was a compatibility issue rather than a defect. The Air Force didn't immediately respond to a request for clarification.
The Air Force said it hadn't tested the affected receivers before installing the new software in the ground control system.
One program still in development was interrupted but no weapon systems already in use were grounded as a result of the problem, the Air Force said. The Air Force said some applications with the balky receivers suffered no problems from the temporary GPS loss.
An Air Force document said the Navy's X-47B, a jet-powered, carrier-based drone under development, was interrupted by the glitch. Air Force officials would not comment beyond that on...
Thu, 3 Jun 10
Pedestrian Sues Google Over Walking Directions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73653
A pedestrian who says she was injured by a motorist while following an online walking route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. supplied unsafe directions.
Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit seeking more than $100,000 on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also names a motorist she says hit her.
Rosenberg, a resident of Los Angeles County, says she used her phone in January to download walking directions from one end of Park City to the other.
Google Maps led her to walk on a busy road without sidewalks that was "not reasonably safe for pedestrians," according to the lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles County resident.
"As a direct and proximate cause of defendant Google's careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, plaintiff Lauren Rosenberg was led onto a dangerous highway, and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle," the lawsuit states.
Rosenberg is seeking compensation for unspecified "severe" injuries and lost wages in addition to punitive damages. The lawsuit provided [no] further information on her age or residence.
Rosenberg couldn't be reached Tuesday. Her attorneys, Allen and Tyler Young of Provo, did not return messages.
Google spokeswoman Diana Adair did not return messages from The Associated Press.
The court papers didn't explain why Rosenberg walked along state Route 224 instead of choosing streets with sidewalks.
On its version for computers, Google Maps suggests one alternative for Rosenberg's route. It also highlights a disclaimer: "Use caution -- This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."
The mobile version of Google Maps, however, does not come with that warning.
Wed, 2 Jun 10
Adobe Offers Reader Application for Tablet Computers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=73666
Hoping to marry the design and feel of a print magazine with the "dynamic interactivity of digital media," Adobe Systems has debuted a reader application for tablet computers based heavily on input from Wired magazine, the first publication to use the format.
Available from Apple's App Store for $4.99, the Wired Reader adds video, slideshows and 360-degree panorama images to traditional magazine layouts and allows zooming and rotating pages with touch gestures. Readers can also zoom out to see the full magazine content displayed. For now, the Wired Reader only reads Wired, but other titles are likely to follow.
"Adobe's work with Wired has resulted in a digital magazine format that creates an immersive experience, allowing a publication's unique content, look and feel, and advertising to stand out in the digital realm," said David Burkett, vice president and general manager of creative solutions at Adobe.
He added that Adobe will soon make the design software available to any interested publisher and create versions for other devices, such as PCs and smartphones. "It's safe to say that if you are al