
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / Elsa / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[As Android for tablets falters, opportunity for Intel]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=as-android-for-tablets-falters-opportunity-for-intel</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=as-android-for-tablets-falters-opportunity-for-intel</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>TrAlfandkl</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=as-android-for-tablets-falters-opportunity-for-intel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Intel has been criticized here and in other venues for being late to thetablet party. But Android's slow start in tablets may mean latecomers aren't necessarily losers.Intel was demoing an Atom-based tablet at its developer conference in Beijing this week(Credit:Intel)A stroke of serendipity has arrived in the form of a tepid consumer reception so far for tablets beyondApple's iPad. Sales of the Motorola Xoom are, to date, anemic, while the sell-through to consumers of Samsung's Android tablet has also been underwhelming. And Digitimes reported today that tablet suppliers Asus and HTC are delaying Android tablet rollouts. Meanwhile, RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook--which is more like an appendage to a BlackBerry phone than a standalone tablet--is not targeted at the high-volume consumer space. So, with tablets based on chips from companies like Nvidia (Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab) and Texas Instruments (PlayBook) not likely flying off the shelf, are Intel's chances any better now &quot;The door to this market is open. The longer it takes for these other products to get rolling, the more opportunity there is for Intel,&quot; said Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch. And others see an opening for the world's largest chipmaker. &quot;Though Apple has set the bar, it's not going to be alone in this space. Right now it looks like Android will have the majority of tablet sales (outside of Apple), and Intel has a dedicated team of people to make Android work the best it can on its Atom chips. They have a lot resources they can apply,&quot; said Jack Gold of consulting firm J.Gold Associates, who wrote about this yesterday. And Intel, despite its unimpressive start, has another advantage. Atom is not just another cookie-cutter design from U.K.-based ARM. Intel can bring to bear all its manufacturing, security, and media processing know-how, according to Gold, who believes Intel will continue to whittle away successfully at the inherent power-efficiency advantage of ARM chips. &quot;My take is that Intel can capture 20 to 25 percent of that remaining market outside of Apple.&quot; Shim has a few words of caution, however. &quot;It all depends, of course, how well Honeycomb (Android 3.0) runs on Atom,&quot; said Shim. &quot;That's a big if.&quot; And Shim also warns Intel not to put too many eggs in the MeeGo basket, which is a hard sell to developers in a field crowded with Hewlett-Packard's WebOS and RIM's QNX, in addition to Android. (See demo of an Intel tablet at the Intel developer conference in Beijing this week.) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sprint's Common Cents plan to become Virgin Mobile PayLo]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Sprint)Sprint will discontinue its Common Cents prepaid plan, CNET learned today, and will instead transition existing customers into the PayLo plan run by Virgin Mobile, a different Sprint prepaid brand. Related links Sprint and Wal-Mart offer cheap prepaid plan Sprint expands Common Cents serviceSprint and Wal-Mart launched Common Cents as an in-store brand last May to compete against retail handsets like TracFone's StraightTalk brand, but the program wasn't rolled out nationally. Existing Common Cents customers will join Virgin Mobile this May, cutting off the plan's lifespan at one year.&quot;Current Common Cents customers need not make any change, but will now have access to more options for plans and handsets under payLo as well, a Sprint spokeswoman told CNET in an e-mail. &quot;Common Cents is due to move out of Wal-Mart in mid May' those pegs will be taken over by Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plans, which have already seen solid success in Wal-Mart.&quot;Sprint is promising an automatic shift for current customers, and will continue offering 7-cent-per-minute calls, plus access to Virgin Mobile top-up cards to refresh minutes. There is some information of the Common Cents Web site, and Sprint has promised more details in the coming weeks.In addition to Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless are also Sprint prepaid brands.[Via Fierce Wireless]Article updated at 1:11pm PT: With a quote from Sprint.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Electronics load offsets home efficiency gains]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=electronics-load-offsets-home-efficiency-gains</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=electronics-load-offsets-home-efficiency-gains</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kocdeba</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=electronics-load-offsets-home-efficiency-gains</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A survey by the U.S. Energy Information Administration confirms what most of have seen first-hand: electronic gadgets are using more and more energy in our homes.The EIA on Monday presented data on energy use in 12,000 U.S. households, which showed improvements in efficiency from better appliances and weatherizing over the past several years, but a marked increase in the electricity load from electronics. In 1978, about two-thirds of a home's energy went to space heating and 17 percent to electronics. With the proliferation of TVs, DVRs, PCs, and cell phones, electronics in 2005 represented 31 percent of total energy use, with 41 percent going to space heating.(Credit:Energy Information Administration)The EIA said that more efficient products, such as EnergyStar appliances, and better construction have helped make homes more efficient. Consumers have also improved the efficiency of homes with steps such as sealing holes and improving insulation. Overall, there has been a 31 percent reduction in energy use per household since 1978, but the electric load has offset some of those gains.The first federal mandatory efficiency standards for major appliances came into force between 1988 and 1994 but the power use from appliances nearly doubled because of more homes, larger homes, and the increased use of air conditioning. Very few homes in 1978 had a personal computer, but now 76 percent of U.S. homes have at least one computer and 35 percent have more than one. Larger and more numerous TVs also contribute to a higher electronics load.(Credit:EIA)Smaller electronics are having an impact as well, with nearly one-third of households having at least four electronic devices, such as cell phones and DVRs, plugged in and charging at home.There are a number of companies developing products to reduce the plug load in homes, including power monitors and &quot;smart plugs&quot; that cut stand-by power. Home automation tools also promise to let people more easily schedule when to turn off major appliances and electronics instead of manually turning electronics off.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Apple releases iOS 4.3.1, but iOS 5 is a question]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-ios-4-3-1-but-ios-5-is-a-question</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-ios-4-3-1-but-ios-5-is-a-question</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>shwindamss</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-ios-4-3-1-but-ios-5-is-a-question</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple has released the latest update to iOS 4, and TechCrunch reports that iOS 5 will be pushed back to the fall.(Credit:Apple)Launched on Friday, iOS 4.3.1 mostly fixes a few bugs here and there in the operating system for theiPhone,iPad,iPod Touch, and Apple TV, according to Apple. The update resolves connectivity issues when joining certain cellular networks and authenticating with some enterprise Web services. It also takes care of a couple of graphics-related glitches--one affecting the 4G iPod Touch and another between Apple's Digital AV adapter and certain TVs. iOS 4.3.1 is compatible with both generations of the iPad, the 3G and 4G iPod Touch, and the iPhone 3GS and 4. But Verizon iPhone customers are out of luck as the latest update is available only for the GSM model iPhone. Though Apple has been busy updating iOS 4 since its release early last summer, a couple of &quot;solid&quot; sources tell TechCrunch that iOS 5 won't launch this spring as would be expected. Instead, Apple is reportedly looking at a fall release date to revamp its mobile OS with a greater focus on cloud-based services and other enhancements. According to TechCrunch's sources, Apple could launch several cloud-based services to work with the new OS, including some type of &quot;music locker&quot; service and a location service aimed at tracking down family and friends. The idea of a music locker follows recent reports that Apple is looking to expand its MobileMe service into a music storage and streaming service. If the report is true, then Apple is likely to use its 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference, now scheduled for June 6 to 10, as a opportunity to preview iOS 5 and the new cloud-based features. There have also been rumors suggesting that Apple may release an iPad 3 this fall. Speculation seemed to take off after Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber snuck a comment about an iPad 3 into a post last month. Since then, the chatter has focused on whether such a new product would be more of an iPad 2.5 or mini iPad rather than an iPad 3 as Apple gears up for the holiday season. And what of the iPhone 5 Though Apple traditionally tries to pair a new iPhone and a new OS together, there's nothing to suggest the iPhone 5 won't launch this summer as expected. If TechCrunch's sources are right about the timing of iOS 5, the new iPhone would simply be equipped with the latest revision of iOS 4. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Mac software VP Bertrand Serlet leaving Apple]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mac-software-vp-bertrand-serlet-leaving-apple</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mac-software-vp-bertrand-serlet-leaving-apple</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rolicated</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mac-software-vp-bertrand-serlet-leaving-apple</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Bertrand Serlet speaking on stage at Apple&amp;39's Worldwide Developer Conference in 2009.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Apple's senior vice president ofMac software engineering, Bertrand Serlet, is leaving the company.Known for his role in creating and developing the Mac OS X software, Serlet will hand over the reins of his job to Craig Federighi, currently the vice president of Mac software engineering, Apple announced today.Federighi, who will report directly to CEO Steve Jobs, has been responsible for the development of Mac OS X and has managed the Mac OS software engineering group the past couple of years. &quot;I've worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science,&quot; Serlet said in a statement. &quot;Craig has done a great job managing the Mac OS team for the past two years, Lion is a great release and the transition should be seamless.&quot;Seen as a key contributor to the design and development of Mac OS X, Selert has been a vocal champion of Apple's operating system. In his keynote speech at the 2009 Worldwide Developer Conference, for instance, he touted the benefits of the Snow Leopard version while taking a few digs at the then upcomingWindows 7, calling it just another version of Windows Vista.Currently in preview mode, Lion, the next version of Mac OS X, is due to be released this summer.After joining Apple in 1997, Serlet was promoted to senior vice president of software engineering in 2003, giving him responsibility for the largest part of the Mac OS software engineering group. Before launching his career with Apple, Serlet spent four years at Xerox PARC and also worked at Steve Jobs' NeXT endeavor starting in 1989. Serlet holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Orsay in France.Like Serlet, Federighi also worked at NeXT before joining Apple. He left Apple to work at Ariba for 10 years where he held several titles, including chief technology officer and vice president of Internet services. He then returned to Apple in 2009 to head the Mac OS X engineering team. He holds an MS in computer science and a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[FarmVille grooms English Countryside]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=farmville-grooms-english-countryside</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=farmville-grooms-english-countryside</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckter3d22</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=farmville-grooms-english-countryside</guid>
<description><![CDATA[FarmVille is spreading its chicken wings.(Credit:Zynga)FarmVille players who reach level 20 in the social game will now be tasked with working the land in rural England, Zynga said today.Once they have access to the English Countryside, players will head there with a duke concerned that the farms on his land &quot;have fallen into disrepair.&quot; Players get new land in the countryside and must build up their crops from scratch.FarmVille has been an absolute success for Zynga. Currently, the title has 44 million active gamers around the world that play it each month--though that figure has been waning. Last August, Zynga noted that it had over 63 million active users each month.Aside from FarmVille, Zynga offers other wildly popular social games, including CityVille and Mafia Wars.According to Zynga, players will find native plants on their new farms, including foxgloves, redcurrants, and King Edward potatoes. The &quot;premium English soil&quot; will help crops grow more quickly than they have in the past.In addition, Zynga created a &quot;lamb breeding&quot; feature that lets gamers &quot;breed their own rams and ewes to create unique lambs with characteristics from both parents.&quot; Shorthorn cows, Shire horses, and Dorking chickens will likewise populate the area.Like other social games, FarmVille is big business. A report released last year by research firm eMarketer found that social game revenue totaled more than $725 million in 2009. By 2012, it believes that figure will triple.Such growth and the continued success of games like FarmVille and CityVille has helped Zynga's value explode. Back in October, the company's valuation was estimated at $5.51 billion. Last month, reports claimed the company was trying to raise $500 million on a$10 billion valuation.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Netflix outage lasted at least two hours]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-outage-lasted-at-least-two-hours</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-outage-lasted-at-least-two-hours</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>managally</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-outage-lasted-at-least-two-hours</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The note that greeted visitors to Netflix.com tonight. (Credit:Screen shot by Steven Musil/CNET)Netflix suffered an outage for at least two hours tonight that left millions of subscribers without access to their queue or the ability to stream movies. In the early evening, visitors to Netflix were greeted by a posting that notified them the site was temporarily unavailable. Netflix spokesman Steven Swasey told CNET the company's technicians were busy trying to get the site operating again, but he did not know the nature of the problem.Those trying to access Netflix from aniPad app received an error message that read, &quot;The requested URL /WiHome was not found on this server.&quot;Online retail is more than a decade old, but site outages are still a nuisance. The stakes, however, have gone up for Netflix. The company is now an entertainment cornerstone in millions of homes. Last year, Netflix grew more than 60 percent and now has more than 20 million subscribers. During the outage, scores of subscribers turned to Twitter to complain, ask questions, or make fun of all the ruckus. &quot;Netflix is down Save us all,&quot; read one Twitter post. One of the side shows was watching to see if all the Twitter action would be enough to get the problem into the social network's Trending Topics, the spot the service reserves for the topics attracting the most attention. It hadn't made it as of 5:40 p.m. PT. Don't look for Netflix to provide details about what caused the outage. Typically, managers there are pretty tight-lipped about glitches. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rebecca Black: iTunes hit, YouTube whipping girl]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rebecca-black-itunes-hit-youtube-whipping-girl</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rebecca-black-itunes-hit-youtube-whipping-girl</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>anybgado</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rebecca-black-itunes-hit-youtube-whipping-girl</guid>
<description><![CDATA[13-year-old Rebecca Black must be wondering about the deeper machinations of the human mind this weekend. Especially the human mind as it reveals itself online.Black, in case you have recently been arrested for grand larceny, has become one of the most talked about and railed upon individuals online in mere days.All she did was get a couple of thousand dollars from her parents in order to make a music video. The words of the song--called &quot;Friday&quot;--are so banal they're almost wonderful.Here's my favorite sample: &quot;Partyin', partyin' (Yeah), Partyin', partyin' (Yeah), Fun, fun, fun, fun, Lookin' forward to the weekend.&quot; Please don't tell me you didn't sing (or even write) something equally florid when you were 13.For reasons beyond any analysis Wittgenstein could muster, Black's music video has enjoyed more than 22 million YouTube views. Black told ABC's &quot;Good Morning America&quot; that she knew it could be big when it went from 4,000 views to 70,000 in one evening.But perhaps she couldn't have imagined just what kind of irrationalities would be flung her way, once the video gained YouTube traction. She described some of them to GMA: &quot;'I hate her voice. It's going to be in my head for the rest of my life.'&quot; Or the even more charming: &quot;'I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty.'&quot;Some might take it for granted that the Web displays every spectrum of humanity. Emotion's every gamut is there, so why be surprised if some people express hate And yet in Black's case, the specifically Web-based phenomena of cyberbullying and instant stardom seem to come together in a truly disturbing pas de deux. It's hard to understand why so many members of the WebMob seem to loathe Black. Her song isn't the worst in the world by any means. Some seem to be appalled that she has been Auto-Tuned, as if this must be hiding her incompetence. But in her ABC interview she sings a little of the National Anthem far better than many performers you have heard at ballgames--and I am not merely referring to Roseanna Barr's elegant version. Black doesn't seem to have a vast child-brat ego either. When asked by ABC if she thought she was a great singer, she offered a very sanguine answer for a 13-year-old: &quot;I think I have talent on some level.&quot;Indeed, she seems to be taking this sudden and quite insane level of fame with decent equanimity. Assisted by &quot;American Idol&quot;'s Ryan Seacrest, she now has a Twitter feed, which again doesn't reveal anything sinister or loathe-worthy. It was left to her mother, Georgina, to admit to ABC that, when she read what had been written about her daughter: &quot;In all honesty I could have killed a few people.&quot;But YouTube isn't the only place Black has attracted attention. When it comes to iTunes, her song has reached as high as No. 19 in the Top 100. Are people buying it just to laugh at it--splendidly twisted behavior Or might this be one of those songs that people don't want to admit publicly they like, but that privately makes them feel a little better when they're jogging, working, or robbing a bankIt's hard not to reach the conclusion that, through its behavior online with respect to Black, a large swathe of humanity has, for no obvious or fathomable reason, decided to display not its hate for Black, but its loathing of itself.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[U.S. sending Global Hawk drone to Japan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--sending-global-hawk-drone-to-japan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--sending-global-hawk-drone-to-japan</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:12:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>svetalawd</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--sending-global-hawk-drone-to-japan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An RQ-4 Global Hawk, a reconnaissance drone, will be used to help survey damage to towns and industrial facilities in Japan.(Credit:U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Nichelle Anderson)U.S. Pacific Air Forces is sending an unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance drone to Japan to help authorities understand the scope of damage from last week's massive earthquake and tsunami. Kyodo News reported that a Japanese government source said the high-altitude drone may be deployed Thursday to take a closer look at the damaged reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where workers are trying to prevent a full-scale meltdown. Images taken by the RQ-4 Global Hawk based at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam may provide a better picture of what's happening at the plant's reactors, which have emitted high levels of radiation. Pacific Air Forces said the UAV will survey towns and industrial facilities. It did not mention the nuclear plant, but added that a U-2 reconnaissance plane is also being used to provide imagery for relief efforts. Capable of flying for 30 hours, the Global Hawk was also used in relief efforts after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Google releases Anthill to bake VP8 into hardware]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-releases-anthill-to-bake-vp8-into-hardware</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-releases-anthill-to-bake-vp8-into-hardware</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pnoababk4mmi84</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-releases-anthill-to-bake-vp8-into-hardware</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Using Anthill, also called H1, a chip can encode or decode VP8 video vastly more efficiently than software can.(Credit:Google)Addressing a major weakness its plan to build its WebM video technology into the Web, Google yesterday released a version of its VP8 video encoder and decoder designed to be baked into hardware.The hardware implementation of VP8 is called H1 and now Anthill, said Aki Kuusela, engineering manager of the WebM Project, in a blog post. It comes in the form of RTL, or Register Transfer Language, a very low-level description close to how processors actually perform their instructions, and it's available royalty free.&quot;The H1 hardware encoder can produce good quality with very low power consumption using almost no clock cycles from the CPU,&quot; Kuusela said. &quot;The H1 encoder offloads the entire VP8 video encoding process from the host CPU to a separate accelerator block on the [processor]. It significantly reduces power consumption and enables encoding of 1080p resolution video at full 30 frames per second, or 720p at 60 FPS. Without a hardware accelerator like the H1, modern multi-core mobile devices can only encode video at around VGA 25 FPS, and are not able to do much else while doing that.&quot;VP8 competes chiefly with a codec called H.264, also known as AVC and or MPEG-4 Part 10. It's widely supported in everything from videocameras to personal computer operating systems, but it's encumbered by patent licensing requirements. With VP8 and WebM, Google hopes to lower the barriers for digital video, especially on the Web.Royalty-free VP8 is be cheaper to use than H.264, but VP8 may not offer a royalty-free ride forever, though. That's because MPEG LA, the group that licenses the pool of H.264 patents, is seeking patents that patent owners believe VP8 requires. That's a necessary step in preparing for a VP8 patent pool, an idea Google doesn't like one bit.One big advantage H.264 has is hardware support that makes encoding and decoding faster and less of a drain on mobile devices' precious battery power. Thus, Google is trying to encourage hardware support, and it's made some successes with Texas Instruments and Rockchip.As is common for hardware codecs, Anthill doesn't match the quality of Bali, the latest software version of the open-source VP8 codec, Kuusela said.&quot;In the next release, we are planning to narrow the quality gap between the libvpx 'Best' mode and the hardware implementation, while cutting down the required power even further. The next release is planned to be out in early Q2,&quot; he said, perhaps a sign that Google hopes to keep the hardware codecs on the same rapid quarterly release track as the software codec.Google faces many challenges in spreading VP8 far and wide, but it's won over the makers of theFirefox and Opera browsers. And today, Opera announced it's begun supporting a related technology for still image compression called WebP.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[SXSW responds to Japan disasters]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sxsw-responds-to-japan-disasters</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sxsw-responds-to-japan-disasters</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sweacyaccindy</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sxsw-responds-to-japan-disasters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The SXSW community reacted quickly to the Japanese disasters by creating a Web site asking attendees to make donations.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)AUSTIN, Texas--There may not be a more Net-connected group of people than the tens of thousands that have descended here this week for the South By Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). And in an attempt to harvest the collective power of these digital powerhouses to help out with relief for the disasters that hit Japan on Friday, conference organizers quickly took action.Today, SXSW Interactive director Hugh Forrest announced SXSW4Japan, a Web site where conference attendees are being asked to donate a total of at least $10,000 for relief efforts in Japan.&quot;Can the SXSW community raise $10,000 for Japan in 4 days Of course we can,&quot; the site urges attendees. &quot;We at SXSW Interactive can make a difference. We can raise funds for the American Red Cross to provide disaster relief in Japan. Donate now to the American Red Cross or create a fundraising page to raise support.&quot;On the site, there's a button for creating a personalized fundraising page, and there's also a general donation button. In the early going, it's hard to tell if the community is going to be able to meet the call for $10,000 in donations. By 3:15 p.m. CST Friday, only $530 had been pledged. But as word of the campaign spreads, it's likely that the connective power of the thousands on hand here this week will meet the challenge.Clearly, though, people who are in Austin for SXSW are paying attention to what's happening in Japan, as a scan of the thousands of tweets coming out of the conference revealed.&quot;If you were able to afford to attend sxsw or buy aniPad today, consider saving a few $$$ for Japan earthquake relief,&quot; tweeted David Bisset. &quot;Just sayin.&quot; And Twitter user Eric Nakagawa added his own sentiment, &quot;I just read death toll reached 1,000. I have donated my ENTIRE SXSW drinking budget to Japan Red Cross.&quot; That may seem to some as an empty gesture, but what's evident is that many people on hand here are feeling the responsibility to do something to help out.Perhaps the most welcome approach was a Web site someone set up to take advantage of hysteria started earlier this morning over the fake launch of a beta site called Hoodlez.com by investor Chris Sacca. As reported by TechCrunch, dozens of people tried to get in on the beta, only to discover that it was a hoax by Sacca. But now, someone has actually registered Hoodlez.com and those visiting the site to try to get in on the beta are met with this message: &quot;There's no beta...there's something better. While we know you're probably here to try to get a beta invite thanks to Chris Sacca's tweet, we have something much better for you: an opportunity to make a difference by donating to the American Red Cross.&quot;To which Sacca himself tweeted, &quot;Okay, this is entirely amazing.&quot;At the same time, Twitter user Leigh Duncan-Durst tweeted that she and others are encouraging all SXSW speakers to add the hash tag sxswcares to &quot;mobilize support&quot; for Japan. There are already hundreds of tweets being posted from here with that hash tag.If you're in Austin, or if you're watching coverage of SXSW and are concerned about the people of Japan, please consider making a donation. You'll surely be able to build up your drinking budget again soon enough.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Apple iPad 2 online sales will start in wee hours]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-ipad-2-online-sales-will-start-in-wee-hours</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-ipad-2-online-sales-will-start-in-wee-hours</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaremapong</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-ipad-2-online-sales-will-start-in-wee-hours</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you're in the market to buy aniPad 2 online tomorrow, you're going to have to wake up a bit early.Apple this morning announced that online sales of the iPad 2 will begin at 1 a.m. PT/4 a.m. ET, many hours ahead of when the newtablet goes on sale at the company's retail stores.The company had previously told customers that online sales would begin the same day as the iPad 2's retail release, but had not provided the start time. Retail availability of the iPad 2 remains unchanged, with Apple beginning sales at 5 p.m. local time at its 236 retail stores as well as at partner retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and carrier stores for Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;T, the company said in its release. Along with the start time, Apple also announced early arrivals of the GarageBand and iMovie iPad apps that the company demonstrated during the iPad 2's unveiling last week. Available today, these apps had originally been slated to be released tomorrow to coincide with the new iPad hardware, which in iMovie's case is required to be able to run the video-editing software.The last Apple product to get an early online sale was theVerizon iPhone, which became available for preordering at 3 a.m. ET from Verizon's online stores, selling out just a few hours later. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Better Place a good deal for Danish drivers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=better-place-a-good-deal-for-danish-drivers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=better-place-a-good-deal-for-danish-drivers</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:11:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>aliciaway2011</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=better-place-a-good-deal-for-danish-drivers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Better Place taxi station in Tokyo.(Credit:Better Place)Better Place, which offers battery service for electric vehicles, opened today its first European retail station in Copenhagen, Denmark.Better Place stations offer battery swaps for electric vehicles as an alternative to waiting to recharge the batteries. Commercial stations are already running in Israel and Japan. Until now, though, Better Place had only been testing pilot stations in the U.S. and Europe.Most of the stations offer fast-charging plug-in spots for EVs, as well as battery swaps for subscribing members. The battery swap is a convenience for drivers because it takes only a minute to make the switch, according to Better Place. The swapped batteries are then recharged and used in othercars.It takes 15 to 30 minutes to recharge an EV battery pack to 80 percent capacity from a rapid-charging station depending on the vehicle, which is why some chargers are partnering with retail stores.The Denmark opening marks the first commercial Better Place center in Europe. It opened in partnership with Renault and the release of its Fluence Z.E., the EV version of the Fluence. The battery pack in the Fluence Z.E. gets about 185 kilometers (115 miles) per charge, according to Renault.When people purchase or lease the Fluence Z.E., they'll have the option of signing up for one of five Better Place subscription packages. The most expensive package is for an &quot;all you can drive&quot; service of unlimited battery swapping for 2,995 Denmark kroner per month ($560). On the modest end of the scale, they'll also offer packages between 1,495 kroner ($299) and 1,895 kroner ($354) per month that covers up to 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles) per year. All subscriptions will also require a one-time 9,995 kroner ($1,869) installation fee for a home-charging station, according to Better Place.Is that a good dealTaking Better Place's most modest plan and assuming it covers about 20,000 kilometers, it would cost 17,904 kroner ($3,346) a year to power your EV not including the one-time installation fee for a home charger.Even given the hefty price for gas in Europe, the subscription service seems pricey.Contrast it with what it might cost to fuel a gas-powered car in Denmark. The best-selling model in Denmark for January 2011 was the Chevy Spark, according to the Danish Car Importers Association.The Chevy Spark with 1.2-liter engine has combined fuel efficiency of about 20 kilometers per liter (47 mpg), according to the Chevrolet Denmark spec sheet. The average price per liter (including VAT) in Denmark is currently 12.23 kroner ($2.29) per liter for Unleaded95 gasoline, according to the European Union's Energy Portal.Bottom line: It costs roughly 12,230 kroner ($2,286) to power the Chevy Spark for 20,000 kilometers in Denmark, in contrast to 17,904 kroner ($3,346) using the Better Place battery-swap service for the Renault Fluence Z.E.While pricing is bound to come down as the service scales up, Danish drivers looking to save money may rather wait the 15 to 30 minutes to recharge their EV, or decide to opt for a highly-efficient gas-powered car. Stil, there is certainly a difference as the Renault Fluence Z.E. is a midsize car while the Chevy Spark is a subcompact.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Schwarzenegger: Time to change the energy debate]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=schwarzenegger-time-to-change-the-energy-debate</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=schwarzenegger-time-to-change-the-energy-debate</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:11:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>danutunnnt</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=schwarzenegger-time-to-change-the-energy-debate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--Green-technology proponents need a better way to make their case, according to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, in a speech today, arguably raised his profile as a leading advocate himself.The former California governor and movie star gave a keynote talk at the ARPA-E Summit here, alternating between funny one-liners and serious discussion on the importance of clean-energy technologies for the country's future prosperity. (Credit:Martin LaMonica/CNET)California offers a model for tech companies that can help vitalize the economy and reduce greenhouse gases, while helping the country reduce its imports of oil, he argued. Schwarzenegger signed a global-warming law that mandates reductions in greenhouse gases, and the state has a renewable-energy mandate that has resulted in almost 20 percent of electricity coming from renewable sources.But Schwarzenegger lamented the national discussion and political discourse on clean energy, saying too much of it is stuck in the debate over the science of global warming.Instead, people should focus on immediate benefits from investing in green technologies, including improved health, economic growth, consumer savings from efficiency, and reduced dependence on foreign oil. He said on health, there are about 100,000 premature deaths a year that can be linked to oil use.&quot;Think about what it means that in the Central Valley of California, one in six children has to walk around with an inhaler. I know we can change the debate and win the debate,&quot; he said. &quot;We can't talk about global warming, because people can't relate to that.&quot;In California, he found that policymakers had to fight efforts by the energy &quot;status quo&quot; to repeal environmental regulations. In the fall election, there was a ballot question to scale back environmental legislation, an effort Schwarzenegger said was financed by Ohio coal and Texas oil companies.He said the recent instability in the Middle East has sent the prices of oil gyrating, demonstrating the geopolitical impact of our energy policies. &quot;Why should a dried-up little country (like Libya) led by a dictator play havoc with America's economic security&quot; he asked.Economically, California has benefited from promoting a green economy, with job growth in green technologies higher than in other areas. One company, Solazyme, is creating algae fuel that reduces greenhouse gases significantly. It's being tested by the Navy, not &quot;some weirdo environmentalists,&quot; he said.Instead of crafting &quot;forward-looking policies&quot; around energy, politicians are debating the science of global warming. &quot;There is a disconnect between what is happening and what is being debated,&quot; he said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Google creeps deeper with Street View trikes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-creeps-deeper-with-street-view-trikes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-creeps-deeper-with-street-view-trikes</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:10:51 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>juwanpno8w8</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-creeps-deeper-with-street-view-trikes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Please don't tell Google, but its Street Viewcars haven't been up my street yet. I don't know why. Perhaps my rather forceful neighbor from Tennessee scared them off.However, Google has today revealed a huge raft of images of many places around the world that it could only reach by tricycle.In a blog post on the Google site, software engineer (what else) Jeremy Pack explained that the trikes have been successful in breaching the ramparts of places hitherto unscalable by car. Take the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin (which, hopefully, will not be subject to severe budget cuts). Then there's Chateau de Chenonceaux in Civray-de-Touraine, France.Yes, you can now waft along with the Google trikes--which weigh 250 pounds and are 9 feet long--as they sail up the paths of stately homes and other places of fun and laughter.Google engineer, Daniel Ratner, who designed the bikes (and their 7-foot masts), told the San Jose Mercury News that he had personally pedaled his wares in Legoland and the Santa Monica Pier. So one place that is an engineer's delight and another that is unique for its ability to bring Hollywood stars and homeless people together. The trikes were actually created during the 20 percent of time that Google's employees are given to work on personal projects. And Ratner told the Mercury News that he based his design on that of the pedicabs at San Francisco's Ferry Building.Though the first trike images were posted in 2009, today saw a veritable triking rollout from many parts of the world.Yes, these lovely trikes have even started to photograph hiking trails such as the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in Rancho San Antonio.Soon, they will be driving right up your garden path so that they can take a really good shot of your kitchen. Or your nostril hair. Well, perhaps.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[How Microsoft made Kinect work around the globe]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-microsoft-made-kinect-work-around-the-globe</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-microsoft-made-kinect-work-around-the-globe</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>larisatrus</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-microsoft-made-kinect-work-around-the-globe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--The wave is one of the most universal ways of saying hello or drawing attention, but how do you create an entire language of gestures that people know, make sure they work with your specialized camera system, then make it work around the worldMicrosoft faced that problem while developing the Kinect, which the company discussed today during a session here at this year's Game Developers Conference, which kicks off in earnest on Wednesday.On hand was Kate Edwards, who is a geocultural content strategist for Englobe, a company that specializes in geopolitical and cartographic consultation. Edwards briefly outlined how Microsoft had been challenged with trying to make sure Kinect games were not going to offend other cultures where those games might end up.Edwards said that while there were many ways to express the same thing, there were specific nuances for each culture that could get game makers in hot water if they accidentally crossed a line. To make sure that didn't happen, the company analyzed image captures of game movements that users were supposed to emulate, and spotted such problematic items based on where the game would be shipping.Once identified, the company would find a suitable replacement for such gestures, as had to be done for the launch title Dance Central, which has users stringing together lines of dance moves. Edwards said one of the easiest changes to make was with the hands, whereas the more difficult ones had to do with full body movements, which often played into a particular dance, or flow of the dance movements.Dance Central was one of the titles where Microsoft replaced certain gestures with ones more suitable for a particular culture.(Credit:Microsoft)Also discussed during the session was localizing games for various languages, which was no small undertaking. As Microsoft international program manager Yumiko Murphy explained during the same session, the company had to come up with alternate words for each voice command, then code them into the game so that users would not have to go out of their way to learn new commands. This proved to be considerably extensive with Kinectimals, a game that has users training virtual jungle cats with hand gestures and their voice. To train the system for that game, Microsoft gathered 10 boys and 10 girls ages 6 to 12, as well as five men and five women from ages 18 to 50 to speak each command two to three times. After that, Microsoft would go through the lexicon of commands to make sure no two commands were too similar, then set four males and four females to run through them to make sure they could be identified by the system. Keep in mind this would be repeated in each of the various localized markets where the title was being launched.Two other problems in localizing games during the run up to Kinect's release were secrecy and space. Microsoft localization program manager Lief Thompson described that time as a dramatic challenge for the company. Microsoft had originally set out to let third parties do testing of the platform for their game localization, but ran into problems trying to make sure they could keep the development units in a secured location that was out of public view. Since Kinect wasn't out, Microsoft needed to make sure that facilities where it was being tested were not just under lock and key, but under 24-7 watch by security personnel, and safe from photography. Microsoft also ran into trouble with space. Kinect just took up too much play space at 40 to 50 square feet. The solution for both issues was to keep the test units on Microsoft's campuses both in Redmond, Wash., and in the company's offices in Dublin and Tokyo. Tokyo in particular had to create three new test bays so that it could localize five of the launch titles to Japanese, Korean, and traditional Chinese. &quot;We were running short on time, and well into June of last year we were digging into every nook and cranny Microsoft had,&quot; Thompson said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Crave 33: Robot babies drive us up the wall (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-33-robot-babies-drive-us-up-the-wall-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-33-robot-babies-drive-us-up-the-wall-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tarynkennn</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-33-robot-babies-drive-us-up-the-wall-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Calling all cooks! A simple, affordable iPad kitchen mount]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=calling-all-cooks-a-simple-affordable-ipad-kitchen-mount</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=calling-all-cooks-a-simple-affordable-ipad-kitchen-mount</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tarynkennn</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=calling-all-cooks-a-simple-affordable-ipad-kitchen-mount</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:CVRH Enterprises)Thanks to apps like Epicurious, How to Cook Everything, and Martha's Everyday Food, iPads make excellent kitchen companions.Just one problem: how do you protect your priceyiPad from the perils of the kitchen I'm talking messy ingredients, hot stoves, sticky-fingered kids, and the like.Simple: mount it underneath a cabinet. That not only gets it up off the counter (and out of harm's way), but also puts it closer to eye level so you're not constantly bending down to check your recipe.One of the easiest and most affordable options I've found is the Original Kitchen iPad Rack, a heavy-duty acrylic tray for under-cabinet iPad mounting. The price is $29.95, plus $7.95 for shipping.To use the rack, you need only install three white brackets--a job that takes 5 minutes at most. An included paper template makes it easy to mark where you'll drill your pilot holes for the screws. (The instructions don't mention drilling, but they should.) Once the brackets are installed, you simply hook the rack into them, then place your iPad on the rack.What's cool is that you can just as easily remove the rack when you don't need it, tossing it in a drawer or cupboard until next time. Another design amenity: the rack's lower lip is deep enough to accommodate your iPad even if it's in a thick case, and the whole thing is just long enough to hold your iPad in portrait orientation if you prefer.The product works really well, though I do have a couple gripes. First, the rack itself may be removable, but the brackets aren't--so you'll probably see them poking down from beneath your cabinets. They're a bit of an eyesore.If you can live with that, you may decide you want to use the rack in a second or even third location. CVRH Enterprises charges $8 for an extra set of brackets or $15 for two extra sets. Come on, guys. ReallyFinally, and this is another bracket-related complaint, the rack can't rotate. Why not switch to a wider, single bracket that can turn, say, 45 degrees in each direction That would make the rack a lot more versatile.Of course, it's pretty versatile already. Though it may not be perfect, at least by my definition, the Original Kitchen iPad Rack is a fine solution for people who are looking to keep their iPads safe and accessible in the kitchen.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Report: iPad 2 already in production]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>willnotlii</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A mock iPad 2 seen at this year&amp;39's CES. (Credit:Engadget)Apple has the next generation of itsiPad in production, according to a Wall Street Journal report that appears to confirm many of the rumors that have been circulating for the past couple of months.The newtablet will feature a faster processor and a built-in camera for videoconferencing, but it will have the same display resolution as the first model, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. The new model will reportedly be sold through current partners AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless--suggesting it might be dual mode for both GSM and CDMA networks. However, the report did not indicate when the new iPad might be hitting store shelves or what the pricing might be.An Apple representative declined to comment.Apple has sold 14 million iPads since its release last April, 7.33 million units alone during the holiday quarter, and Piper Jaffray expects Apple to sell 27 million iPads in 2011. All of that fervor has helped fuel rumors of specs, sightings, and even a claimed component acquisition. Tech site 9to5Mac claimed earlier this month that it had acquired what it believed to be an iPad 2 LCD, &quot;fresh out of China.&quot; The news site found the display to be lighter, thinner, and of higher quality than the current iPad's display, but it could see no evidence that it offered higher resolution than the existing model.Though a number of sites have reported finding higher resolution graphics in recent builds of Apple's iOS, an analyst cited by Apple Insider in January said the iPad 2 would not have a high-resolution Retina display, corroborating an earlier CNET report.Earlier this month, a Reuters &quot;eyewitness&quot; claimed to have seen an iPad 2 prototype at the press unveiling of News Corp.'s The Daily. However, that alleged sighting did nothing to confirm or dispel rumors that the new device will sport a USB port.Component makers in Taiwan said in December that Foxconn--a key maker of iPhones and iPads--had been notified that it should be ready to ship 400,000 to 600,000 units of the new device by the end of February. That aligns nicely with another rumor that has pegged February 14 as the release date for Apple's iOS 4.3, the newest update for iPhones, iPads, andiPod Touches. Might an iPad 2 announcement be included in a press event announcing iOS 4.3 Stay tuned. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[eBay snags Bing's development manager, Facebook scientist]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-snags-bings-development-manager-facebook-scientist</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-snags-bings-development-manager-facebook-scientist</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sonia01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-snags-bings-development-manager-facebook-scientist</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Prevost weighing in as a panelist during 2009&amp;39's Semantic Technology Conference.(Credit:Tom Krazit/CNET)Adding to the list of recent departures, Microsoft has lost the principal development manager of its Bing search engine to commerce giant eBay. According to All Things Digital, Scott Prevost who joined Microsoft as part of the Powerset acquisition in 2008, has left to become the VP of product management for eBay's search tool. He's joined by now former Facebook research scientist Dennis DeCoste, who will be eBay's director of research. Together, the pair are said to be working on improving the relevancy of eBay's built-in search tool. A Microsoft representative confirmed Prevost's departure and said &quot;we wish him well in his future endeavor.&quot;Prior to his two-year stint as the GM and director of product for Powerset, Prevost had been the CEO and CTO at the Animated Speech Corporation, which merged with educational software and research company TeachTown in 2006. As for DeCoste, he too had been a Microsoft employee, though he had worked as a principal scientist for the company following his stint as the director of research for Yahoo's Research group.Prevost joins a handful of recent departures from Microsoft's management and engineering ranks. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that server and tools boss Bob Muglia would be leaving the company later this year. More recently, Brad Brooks, who served as corporate vice president in Microsoft's Windows Group, left the company to join Juniper Networks. Meanwhile, Matt Miszewski--the former general manager of Microsoft's government business--left Microsoft for Salesforce.com in late December, though he was temporarily blocked from taking his post as a VP due to Microsoft winning a restraining order based on non-compete and confidentiality agreements Miszewski had signed. There's also Johnny Chung Lee, theWii hacker Microsoft hired to work in its Applied Sciences group to develop Kinect algorithms, who jumped ship for Google earlier this month.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Barnes & Noble discontinuing 3G Nook]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-discontinuing-3g-nook</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-discontinuing-3g-nook</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ufowebblog</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-discontinuing-3g-nook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Gone baby gone(Credit:Barnes &amp;amp' Noble)We're not sure quite what to make of this rumor, but Engadget is reporting that Barnes &amp; Noble is phasing out the Nook 3G.Engadget doesn't cite a specific person or anonymous source, but says it, &quot;Received hard evidence from within B&amp;N that the Nook is being discontinued, with sales to seemingly continue until stock is exhausted.&quot; The &quot;outfit&quot; (we assume that means Barnes &amp; Noble) is apparently &quot;encouraging retail partners to not send out any 'bulk requests' for the Nook 3G, as there simply 'will not be sufficient quantities to fulfill those orders.'&quot;The article then goes on to say that &quot;the company never actually received a huge amount of Nook 3G bulk orders to begin with, so maybe Wi-Fi really is everywhere these days.&quot;As we said, it's a little hard to decipher what this means, but we should point out that Engadget's story about the Nook Color getting an update to Android 2.2 and possibly blowing up if you rooted it (installed custom Android firmware) ended up being just a tad off base. However, this latest story was written by veteran Engadget reporter Darren Murph, so we're taking it more seriously.One thing worth pointing out is that it would seem odd for Barnes &amp; Noble to discontinue the 3G/Wi-Fi version of the Nook and tell customers they could only get the Wi-Fi-only version. The fact is, Amazon offers both a 3G/Wi-Fi Kindle and Wi-Fi-only Kindle, and Barnes &amp; Noble would most likely continue to offer models that compete with what Amazon's got.While Barnes &amp; Noble remains heavily focused on marketing the Nook Color, the more likely scenario is for the company to refresh the Nook e-ink line, which launched in November 2009. Whether that ends up being a substantial makeover or just some modest design and parts tweaks is unclear, but some industry insiders say that Barnes &amp; Noble may be losing money on its e-ink readers (which is why it hasn't quite matched Amazon's prices). Therefore it would behoove the company to release a product that was more cost-effective to produce.In any case, we think that Barnes &amp; Noble will continue to offer some sort of sub-$200 3G-enabled Nook as long as Amazon is offering one. But to be clear, that's just speculation. We have no &quot;hard evidence&quot; to prove some change is coming to the Nook line, and Barnes &amp; Noble doesn't comment on rumors. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA['Go to' clouds of the future, part 2]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=go-to-clouds-of-the-future-part-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=go-to-clouds-of-the-future-part-2</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Neha</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=go-to-clouds-of-the-future-part-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In part 1 of this two-part series, I highlighted my thoughts on why the long-term future of the cloud, at least for consumer and small business, belongs to integrated &quot;one-stop&quot; cloud suites, and why Microsoft and Google are the two companies best positioned for this opportunity. However, I was also clear that success in this space for both companies is far from guaranteed.(Credit:Flickr/Pete Markham)The truth is that several potential competitors could overtake either--or both--companies, if they should fail to execute successfully. Here are some of my favorites, and a few that should be contenders but really aren't, at this point:Salesforce.comWith a series of moves in the last year or two, Salesforce.com has moved from simply being a customer relationship management software-as-a-service vendor to being a true cloud platform contender. With the broadening of its Force.com platform as a service environment to add Java (via VMforce, a partnership with VMware) and Ruby (via the acquisition of Heroku), Salesforce has made itself a very interesting option for developers.However, given its SaaS roots, I'm convinced that CEO Mark Benioff has more up his sleeve than that. Already, Salesforce has built up an impressive ecosystem with its App Exchange marketplace, but the real sign that it intends to be a broad business platform is the investment in Chatter, its enterprise social network and collaboration tool.With a few more acquisitions and/or product offerings to expand its business applications suite (perhaps adding e-mail, a productivity suite, or even accounting applications), Salesforce will begin to look like a true &quot;one-stop&quot; leader. Frankly, with respect to the company, I'm already on the fence about whether the top two should become the top three.VMwareFirst, it should be noted that VMware is not trying to be a cloud provider itself but rather an arms dealer to those that are. The question is, will it help these providers be &quot;one-stop shops,&quot; if they so chooseThere is no doubt that VMware has made significant progress in moving up the stack from virtual server infrastructure to cloud computing and even to development platforms. The aforementioned PaaS offering with Salesforce.com, VMforce, is one example, but there have been many announcements around cloud application development and operations capabilities--and all signs point to there being much more to come.The reason VMware is mentioned here, however, is its acquisition early in 2010 of Zimbra, the open-source online e-mail platform. To me, that was a sign that VMware was looking at building a complete suite of cloud services, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS capabilities. However, as far as I can tell, the SaaS-related investments have either gone underground or dried up completely.Giving VMware the benefit of the doubt, I'll assume that it is still working its way up to the SaaS applications necessary to supply one-stop cloud services. With the capabilities it has been working on over the last few years, being a contender in this space is not out of the question--or perhaps its ecosystem of partners will do it for the company. However, it just doesn't have enough SaaS to be one today.Amazon Web ServicesAmazon Web Services is, and will likely remain, the flagship cloud infrastructure company. It is also underrated as a PaaS offering, in that most people don't understand how much its services are geared toward the developer.However, it is completely focused on selling basic services to enable people to develop, deploy, and operate applications at scale on its infrastructure. It does not appear to be interested today in adding SaaS services to serve small businesses.That said, there are two things that may make AWS a major part of the one-stop ecosystem. The first is, if a start-up or existing SaaS provider chooses to build and operate its one-stop suite on top of AWS services. That is actually a very likely scenario.The other would be if Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos sees an integrated suite of small-business applications as a perfect offering for the Amazon retail business. This would probably be the resale of other companies' software, but it would make AWS a one-stop shop worth paying attention to.IBM and HPIBM and Hewlett-Packard are companies that can integrate a wide variety of infrastructure, platform, and professional-services products, so you can never count them out of a major IT market opportunity. However, they seem to have shifted away from business software suites, with a focus more on IT operations and data management/analytics. While IBM and HP will no doubt be players in enterprise IaaS and PaaS, I don't see them making the investments in building, acquiring, or partnering for the basic IT software services required to meet the one-stop vision. Again, perhaps their ecosystems get them there, but they are not promoting that vision themselves.Hosting-turned-cloud companiesCompanies such as Rackspace, Terremark, and other hosting companies that have embraced the cloud for IaaS services are important players in the overall cloud model, but I don't believe that they are ready to contend, when it comes to integrated cloud suites, at this time. Their focus right now is on how to generate as much revenue as possible per square foot of data center space, and their skill sets fit IaaS perfectly. However, if VMware or another cloud infrastructure software provider builds a suite of services that they can simply deploy and operate, that may change quickly. They just are not contenders based on today's business models.Telecommunications and cable companiesOne possible industry segment that may surprise us with respect to one-stop cloud services would be companies such as AT&amp;T, Verizon Communications, Comcast, and BT--the major telecommunications providers. They own the connectivity to the data center, the campus, mobile devices, and so on, and they have data center infrastructures perfect for a heavily distributed market like the small-business market (where each small business may be local, but the market itself exists in every town and city).The problem is the same as it has been for decades: business models and regulatory requirements of these companies make it difficult for them to address software services effectively. These companies have traditionally been late to new software market opportunities (with the possible exception of the mobile market). You don't see AT&amp;T, for instance, competing with others in bidding for a platform-as-a-service opportunity. So until they show signs of understanding how to monitize business applications, they are not in the running.My dark horse: Oracle&quot;Really Not with Larry Ellison at the helm,&quot; some of you are probably thinking. However, you have to admit that when it comes to business software suites, Oracle certainly has the ammunition. It has dabbled in SaaS already, and with the Sun acquisition, it has rounded out its possible offerings with OpenOffice.org and Java.Oracle's biggest problem is its business model, as well as its love of license and maintenance revenue. If it can figure out how to generate revenue from SaaS that meets or exceeds its existing model, I think that it'll move quickly to establish itself as a major player in the space and will quickly rise towards the top of the heap. In fact, the recent announcement of Oracle Cloud Office might be a sign that it has already started.Today Oracle does not seem to be focused on being a cloud provider. It killed Sun's IaaS offering--which always confused me--and has only introduced PaaS for private-cloud deployments. To date, it seems that it can't pull itself away from equating an enterprise sale with an on-premise, up-front licensing sale.I am watching Oracle's moves in the cloud with great interest, for that reason.If I am right--if one-stop cloud services are what many small and midsize businesses turn to in order to avoid building an IT data center infrastructure of their own' if integration is the key differentiator for cloud services across SaaS, PaaS and IaaS--then I'm pretty comfortable with the observations I've made in this series.If I am wrong, then integration of disparate cloud services will be a huge market opportunity. What it will come down to is what is easier to consume by small and medium-size businesses. For that reason, I'll place my bet on the one-stop model. What about you<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Fall 2010 security suite roundup]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fall-2010-security-suite-roundup</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fall-2010-security-suite-roundup</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>zechariaha</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fall-2010-security-suite-roundup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The fall months may be the season for colder weather and dying leaves, but in the software world it means major updates for security suites. We've reviewed and benchmarked 11 suites, organized them along the traditional line of cost, and picked one in each category that we highly recommend.We looked at four updated free security options: AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011, Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.3, Microsoft Security Essentials 2, and Ad-Aware Free Internet Security 9. Other well-known free security programs, such as Avast and Avira, generally update in late winter or spring, so they were not included.$lazy(window.GeckoVideoPlayer, CBSi.lazy.videoPlayer, function(){loadGeckoVideoPlayer({parentElement: 'universalVideoid50093438',flashVars:{autoplay: 'false',adTargetType: 'Page',adPreroll: 'true',contentType: 'id',contentValue: '50093438',playlistDisplay: 'over'}},'blogLarge')'})'In addition to our product comparison charts (free | paid), check out CNET Labs' performance benchmark comparisons below. (Read more on how CNET Labs tests security programs.) We can see from these tests that though no single program scored better than all the others, there were clear leaders in the key trials of start-up time impact, shutdown time impact, and time to complete a full scan. Panda Cloud Antivirus is highly competitive with AVG Free, whereas Norton's performance strengths lie in its threat prevention and detection, because several of its competitors leave a smaller footprint on your system.Free security suite benchmarks:table.geekbox th{background-color:E6ECEF'text-align:left'font-weight:bold'}table.geekbox tr.even{background-color:CCCCCC'}.ratingGood{color:093'} .ratingAverage{color:666'} .ratingBad{color:C00'}Security programBoot timeShutdown timeScan timeMS Office performanceiTunes decodingMedia multitaskingCinebenchUnprotected system42.511.28n/a9171807804,795AVG Anti-Virus Free 201155.2411.595481,0392008704,709Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 1.350.1214.85401,0441998324,790Microsoft Security Essentials 254181,5601,0382018004,790Ad-Aware Internet Security 954181,6201,0391997974,792*All tests measured in seconds, except for Cinebench. On the Cinebench test, the higher number is better.Paid security suite benchmarks:table.geekbox th{background-color:E6ECEF'text-align:left'font-weight:bold'}table.geekbox tr.even{background-color:CCCCCC'}.ratingGood{color:093'} .ratingAverage{color:666'} .ratingBad{color:C00'}Security programBoot timeShutdown timeScan timeMS Office performanceiTunes decodingMedia multitaskingCinebenchUnprotected system42.511.28n/a9171807804,795Kaspersky Internet Security 201147.49171,7501,0682078234,661Webroot Internet Security Complete 201147.8615.971,4599921988484,729BitDefender Total Security 201147.8413.827751,0322008254,769Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 201144.7916.565001,0602018524,765Norton Internet Security 201148.9111.788901,0281998614,780AVG Internet Security 201156.2116.34801,0431988204,759PC Tools Internet Security 201155201,2451,0862048324,792*All tests measured in seconds, except for Cinebench. On the Cinebench test, the higher number is better.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac gets update]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limarriaeye</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)Today, Microsoft released an update to its Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac beta software that brings some performance enhancements and new features. The software, which allowsMac users to sync music, video, podcasts, and photos from iTunes and iPhoto with theirWindows Phone 7 device, now offers a new setup experience, as well as the ability to sync purchased music from your smartphone. The browsing function also now supports manual import from device, delete from device, and preview.Current users of the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac will automatically receive the update as it's rolled out. Meanwhile, new users can download the software from the Microsoft Download Center.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Steve Jobs mocked in anti-gay marriage '1984' spoof]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The lady in the tight shorts clutches the hammer. She runs up to the screen, towards Big Brother's large projected face.And, in a strident attempt to explain to Big Brother that gay marriage is not a good thing, she tosses the hammer...at Steve Jobs.Perhaps you have yet to see this 2010 version of Apple's &quot;1984&quot; ad. The version in which Steve Jobs is portrayed as Big Brother.The ad was made by the National Organization for Marriage. The organization is upset that an app called &quot;The Manhattan Declaration&quot; was first approved by Apple and then, as the ad so quaintly puts its, killed.I have not enjoyed the distinction of perusing this app. However, Gawker reported that the only way you could &quot;win&quot; in this app's game was to condemn gay marriage and abortion rights.Apple hasn't always been entirely transparent about its app approval procedures. It has admitted that there have been some slight snafus. However, the company's explanation for this app's removal seemed quite clear (which doesn't necessarily mean it is, to some minds, justified).&quot;We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,&quot; an Apple spokesperson told CNET.Apple fully expressed its support for gay rights during the Proposition 8 controversy in California. And its decision certainly came after pressure from pro-gay marriage groups. However, the Manhattan Declaration nation explained that its anti-gay marriage stance is &quot;civil, non-inflammatory and respectful.&quot;That may well be. But then some might wonder why, in order to further its cause, the anti-one-gender marriage folks have created an ad that seems touchingly uncivil, inflammatory, and disrespectful. Do they really think that such a work of art will somehow move Apple's CEO to anything more than a snortThose with an excessively lawyerly bent will also ponder whether this group sought Apple's approval to use images from its most iconic ad. Somehow, one suspects this might have escaped the creators' to-do list.Perhaps they are hoping that Apple threatens to sue, thereby offering further opportunities for banging a public drum.Perhaps, though, for an organization that consists of &quot;prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders, and scholars,&quot; there might be better ways to protest alleged injustice. You know, civil, non-inflammatory, respectful ways. Like revising the app (as the Manhattan Declaration has reportedly done). Or like creating an Android app instead. Surely that will be approved it. Won't it<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft updates Bing iPhone app]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-updates-bing-iphone-app</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-updates-bing-iphone-app</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Vanessa01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-updates-bing-iphone-app</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft launched Bing 2.0 for the iPhone this week with a host of new and revamped features foriPhone,iPad, andiPod Touch users. (Credit:Microsoft) Right off the bat, the home page appears cleaner and friendlier. Bing now lists the different search categories one under the other rather than grouped at the bottom, so you can more easily see and tap on the category you want. Mobile Bing's voice search has been enhanced. Powered by Microsoft Tellme, the voice search is now quicker and lets you narrow your search without having to repeat the entire phrase. Microsoft also provides some easily-accessible examples and tips to help you better search by voice. Bing's auto-suggest feature can now help you refine certain searches on the fly. As examples, searching for &quot;restaurants in New York City&quot; lets you narrow the search by name, cuisine, price, or description, while searching for &quot;movies in New York City&quot; lets you specify the name of a specific movie or theater. Bing Vision lets you snap a photo of a product, either its front cover or bar code, and then provide search results. But it goes a step further by analyzing and running a search on actual text within a photo. For example, I snapped a picture of a Borders coupon, and Bing showed me a list of Borders bookstores in my area. Another new feature is the Streetside viewer. Borrowing a page from Google's StreetView, the Bing version takes you on a photographic tour of certain streets and locations. Along with Streetside, Microsoft is promising a new panorama view with a more immersive virtual tour, but that feature apparently wasn't ready in time for Bing 2.0. The latest features and enhancements to Bing for the iPhone are part of Microsoft's ongoing effort to beef up Bing and make it more user-friendly, both on the desktop and on the phone. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[New scam tactic: Fake disk defraggers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-scam-tactic-fake-disk-defraggers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-scam-tactic-fake-disk-defraggers</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rubultya</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-scam-tactic-fake-disk-defraggers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Beware of this fake disk defragger program. (Credit:GFI Labs)We've all heard about fake antivirus programs, also known as scareware. These programs falsely claim that your computer is infected with malware and prompt you to buy a product that will do nothing for you, except put your credit card number into the hands of criminals. Well now there are fake disk defraggers that masquerade as applications that fix disk errors on a computer. In a post today the GFI Labs (formerly Sunbelt Software) blog Dubbed the programs FakeAV-Defrag rogues and said they had names like HDDDiagnostic, HDDRepair, HDDRescue, and HDDPlus. It would appear that the scammers are trying out the new programs to see which might best confuse potential victims and evade detection by legitimate antivirus software. The defragger clones emerged last month with names like UltraDefragger, ScanDisk and WinHDD and which pretended to find &quot;HDD read/write errors. Earlier this month, there was PCoptimizer, PCprotection Center, and Privacy Corrector that were more generic security products rather than specifically antivirus, the post says. Computer users should be suspicious of applications that are advertised via e-mail, pop up warnings about problems (especially immediately after you click on a Web page video), demand that you make a purchase before it will fix the problems, and prompt you to update your browser, GFI Labs said. If you aren't sure if a program is legitimate, you can search by the name on a search engine or on GFI Labs' site. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Chrome OS puts the cloud in your hands]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-puts-the-cloud-in-your-hands</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-puts-the-cloud-in-your-hands</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Elsa</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-puts-the-cloud-in-your-hands</guid>
<description><![CDATA[$lazy(window.GeckoVideoPlayer, CBSi.lazy.videoPlayer, function(){loadGeckoVideoPlayer({parentElement: 'universalVideoid50097179',flashVars:{autoplay: 'false',adTargetType: 'Page',adPreroll: 'true',contentType: 'id',contentValue: '50097179',playlistDisplay: 'over'}},'blogLarge')'})'<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[LG to slash CO2 emissions with eco-magnesium]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ttwotimeso</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LG Electronics has committed to replacing conventional magnesium used in its mobile phones to a more environmentally friendly magnesium alloy dubbed eco-magnesium. To be rolled out by 2012, this would effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4kg for every handset manufactured.&quot;Eco-magnesium is one of LG's key strategies in our ongoing effort to transform LG into a leader in more environmentally responsible manufacturing,&quot; President and Chief Technology Officer Skott Ahn said in a statement.LG claims that almost no sulphur hexafluoride, which is used in the casting of magnesium and which LG cites as one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is created during production.LG, which research company IDC says is the world's third-largest phone maker in terms of unit sales after Nokia and Samsung, has already removed lead, cadmium, nickel, halogen substances, and other EU RoHS materials from its production of mobile phones. Standby power has also been reduced in portable chargers, and a reminder feature lets users know when the handset is fully charged.The eco-magnesium alloy was developed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology with funding from the Korean government. Korean-based firms HK High-Tech, Keumgang Coen, and Hallacast have signed a memorandum of understanding with LG to produce the eco-magnesium alloy. As part of the agreement, the chaebol will provide these companies with technological support and training in carbon credit trading.LG shipped 27.5 million handsets globally and had a market share of 6.6 percent in the third quarter of 2010, according to a recent report from information technology research and advisory company Gartner. (Source: Crave Asia)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA['Fail Whale' creator aims to democratize art]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fail-whale-creator-aims-to-democratize-art</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fail-whale-creator-aims-to-democratize-art</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckli1</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fail-whale-creator-aims-to-democratize-art</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Yiying Lu, the designer who created the famous Twitter &amp;39'Fail Whale,&amp;34' is having her first-ever North American exhibition in San Francisco on Thursday night. The event is also the launch party for Walls360, a start-up she co-founded, and that is selling what it says is a revolutionary kind of wall graphics.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--Since the famous &quot;Fail Whale&quot; is known for signifying that Twitter is down, it might surprise you to know that there are a lot of people out there who appreciate seeing it.&quot;People are actually looking forward to [Twitter] downtime,&quot; said Yiying Lu, the artist who created what came to be known as the Fail Whale. &quot;I'm [always getting] tweets from people telling me it makes them happy&quot; to see the whimsical image of a whale being hauled out of the water by a group of small birds.Lu may be best known for creating that iconic image, but she likely hopes that won't be true for long. Yesterday, she and three partners launched a new company, Walls360, hoping to forever change the way people hang art and even what people think art is.In short, Walls360 aims to give artists, companies, designers, photographers, and anyone else who wants to hang high-quality imagery their walls an easy and inexpensive way to do so. 'Fail Whale' artist stars in first North American exhibition (photos) The company's secret sauce is what co-founder John Doffing called premium self-adhesive repositionable fabric paper, essentially a high-brow fabric sticker that enables very high-resolution print-outs of any digital image, even up to 8 feet tall, and which can be placed on a wall in such a way that it's very hard to see that it's not painted on. And then it can be taken down and moved in seconds, up to 100 times, and all, Doffing said, without damaging any surfaces. The material can even be crumpled up and then flattened out again without any obvious wrinkles.Doffing explained that material can accept printouts of up to 1,400 dpi using environmentally friendly inks. The company is handling the printing itself at a facility in Maryland.To celebrate their new undertaking--what Doffing called a &quot;platform&quot;--and to leverage Lu's geek celebrity, the Walls360 founders (who also include Tavia Campbell and Jason Weisenthal) are hosting an event at the Hotel des Art here tonight that will be one part launch party and one part gallery show for dozens of pieces of Lu's work, much of which would be recognizable to anyone who's seen the Fail Whale.In the early going, Doffing said, the company is looking at two markets--individuals who want to hang images designed by Lu or any of thousands of other Walls360 offerings, or their own or friends' or family members' art, and companies that want to set up branded storefronts. He said that next week, Walls360 will announce partnerships with a major science-fiction franchise and a leading video game title. Everything, regardless of the imagery, is printed on-demand, and Walls360 will keep no inventory, he said. Walls360 hopes to lure in customers with relatively low prices--a 6-foot image comes delivered for just $90, and many sets are selling for less than $40.Doffing says that Walls360 is aiming to be the &quot;Zazzle or Cafepress for wall graphics.&quot;Snacks and main dishes For the Chinese-born and Australia resident Lu, who studied business and technology in college and later art, becoming a partner (and the artistic/creative director) in a company like Walls360 is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new artistic medium. She seems keen on being involved in something that could democratize art in some small way, given how expensive it usually is to hang art, and the inexpensive prices Walls360 plans to charge.She sees what the company is offering as a bit of a play on Andy Warhol's famous line about everyone getting 15 minutes of fame. In this case, Lu said, &quot;Everyone can bring art to the wall, and everyone can have 15 minutes of fame.&quot;Indeed, it's that sentiment that led to Walls360's tagline, &quot;Art for Everywhere.&quot;For Lu, art is something that was once a distraction during her very proper education. While in school studying technology and business, she recalled, she used to spend two or three hours every day looking through art books and going to bookstores and museums, yet never imagined that it would become her living.&quot;I thought that [art] was snacks,&quot; Lu said, &quot;but [it] became main dishes. I was born for this.&quot;The &amp;39'Fail Whale,&amp;39' the design that brought Lu international geek fame.(Credit:Yiying Lu)Her style is certainly unique, and anyone who sees some of her bigger works would almost instantly see the resemblance to the Fail Whale. But it turns out that the Fail Whale itself happened only by accident.In 2002, Lu recalled, she was very much into animal symbology and had created a card for a friend featuring an elephant spurting a number of small birds out of its trunk. It was called &quot;Lifting a Dreamer.&quot; Later, she was thinking about a different version of the image and started thinking of a friend of hers that lived in New South Wales, Australia. That got her thinking about whales, and lo and behold, she created the now-famous image.In fact, however, she was not hired by Twitter to do the image for them. It turns out that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone found the work on a stock imagery site and decided it was appropriate as something to showcase when the popular microblogging site was down.The popularity of that image led two new friends of hers who were getting married to commission Lu to design an image for their wedding invites--something that was the &quot;exact opposite of a Fail Whale,&quot; said Dale Larson, the soon-to-be groom.As new fans of penguins, Larson and his fiance Laura La Gassa asked Lu if she could design something for them that incorporated the tuxedoed, flightless birds. Lu's solution The &quot;win penguins.&quot;Two San Francisco residents, Dale Larson and Laura La Gassa, commissioned Lu to create the &amp;39'win penguins&amp;39' for their wedding invitation. They saw the design as the exact opposite of the Fail Whale.(Credit:Yiying Lu)&quot;She was incredibly easy to work with and came up with an amazing design with little input from us,&quot; Larson said. &quot;We liked them so much that we even had it made into a topper for our wedding cake....Of many wonderful memories from our Wedding, Yiying's art stands out as one of the things people remember and love.&quot;But the story of Lu's creation of the Win Penguins doesn't end there. Because Larson is fairly well plugged into the social media community, his blog post about Lu's work for him and La Gassa got picked up by Mashable and the Huffington Post, and someone Lu had never met before saw the HuffPo entry: John Doffing.Based on that, Doffing got in touch, and the two discovered a mutual appreciation of art, digital media, and more. And they decided not long after to go into business together.Mixing reality and the virtual worldFor someone steeped in technology like Lu, there had always been a sense that people spend so much of their time these days immersed in the virtual world of computers and the Internet. Art, and life, is reality, and (almost) never the twain did meet.But Lu wants to change that--and she sees what Walls360 is about as enabling the blending of reality and virtual reality for a wide group of people. &quot;Art [is] no longer just on the canvas,&quot; Lu said. &quot;I wanted to introduce new ways for people trapped by every day life and don't have time to appreciate art.&quot;That could come, Walls360 hopes, from people being able to take imagery they find in their lives and get inexpensive manifestations of it to hang on their walls. And it could also come from the blending of art and technology that Lu said her background in the two allows her to combine.For example, she said that one of the next things Walls360 wants to do is to find a way to incorporate augmented reality into the art it sells. That could come, Lu explained, by blending QR codes into the images, allowing people to take photos of the art and experience something that a company or client wants them to see on their phones or iPads. At the same time, Lu said, she imagines potential partnerships with companies like Twitter in which Walls360 would allow people to buy printouts of tweets they like. So imagine finding a tweet you really enjoy, and then paying a few dollars to Walls360, which would then send you a printed version that you could, say, affix to your laptop. Or put on a wall along with some sort of related imagery.&quot;This is what I've been thinking,&quot; said Lu, &quot;to combine reality and the virtual world, so things are more grounded. It's better to have something tangible.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[RIM acquires TAT, designer of user interfaces]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-acquires-tat-designer-of-user-interfaces</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-acquires-tat-designer-of-user-interfaces</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cruzbrain3</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-acquires-tat-designer-of-user-interfaces</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Research In Motion has acquired user interface specialist The Astonishing Tribe for an undisclosed sum, the company announced on its blog today.TAT could be a major pickup for BlackBerry maker RIM. The company, which is based in Sweden, makes several different products for mobile device makers, and it's invested in the Android market with its &quot;custom home screen,&quot; called TAT Home. That offering delivers gesture navigation and 3D widgets, and according to the company, is designed to give users more control over the &quot;look and feel of the Android home screen.&quot;Another product, TAT Cascades, is an XML-based UI framework designed for mobile-device vendors. According to the company, Cascades is running on &quot;more than 470 million devices and 200 models run TAT technology.&quot; Moreover, TAT claims that its &quot;technology is behind the UI in more than 15 percent of all mobile phones and more than 20 percent of all touch phones shipped&quot; in 2010.The company also has some concept design ideas that it's working on, including a 3D offering that allows users to &quot;look around&quot; apps on a mobile device (see video below). It also has a presence in the automotive industry.So what exactly does all this mean for RIM and its products &quot;The TAT team will be joining RIM and bringing their talent to the BlackBerry PlayBook and smartphone platforms,&quot; RIM Chief Technology Officer David Yach noted in a blog post announcing the acquisition. He didn't elaborate, though, on how TAT's wares might be integrated into RIM's products, nor did he indicate whether TAT will continue to supply its services to other vendors. The Playbook, RIM's entry into the hot tablet market, is due in the first quarter of 2011.In response to a request for further comment, RIM said only that it is not announcing any specific product plans at the moment and that TAT's workers will remain as a group, in their current location, becoming part of RIM's global software development team.The maker of the popular BlackBerry devices has been busy acquiring other companies this year. In April, it acquired QNX to &quot;enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems.&quot; In August, it acquired Cellmania to improve its App World offering. At the beginning of September, it bought Documents to Go maker Data Viz.        Don Reisinger    Full Profile E-mail Don Reisinger   E-mail Don Reisinger If you have a question or comment for Don Reisinger, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, posting at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Symantec: Stuxnet clues point to uranium enrichment target]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=symantec-stuxnet-clues-point-to-uranium-enrichment-target</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=symantec-stuxnet-clues-point-to-uranium-enrichment-target</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ballmurderer</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=symantec-stuxnet-clues-point-to-uranium-enrichment-target</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Stuxnet looks for frequency converters that control motors in industrial control systems, Symantec says.(Credit:Symantec)Symantec researchers have figured out a key mystery to the Stuxnet worm code that strongly suggests it was designed to sabotage a uranium enrichment facility.The program targets systems that have a frequency converter, which is a type of device that controls the speed of a motor, Eric Chien, technical director of Symantec Security Response, told CNET today. The malware looks for converters from either a company in Finland or Tehran, Iran. &quot;Stuxnet is watching these devices on the target system that is infected and checking what frequency these things are running at,&quot; looking for a range of 800 hertz to 1200 Hz, he said. &quot;If you look at applications out there in industrial control systems, there are a few that use or need frequency converters at that speed. The applications are very limited. Uranium enrichment is an example.&quot; There had been speculation that Stuxnet was targeting an Iranian nuclear power plant. But power plants use uranium that has already been enriched and don't have the frequency converters Stuxnet seeks like those that control centrifuges, Chien said.  The new information from Symantec would seem to bolster speculation that Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility was a target. The worm spreads via holes in Windows and saves its payload for systems running specific industrial control software from Siemens.  Also on Symantec's short list of possible targets are facilities using computer numerical controlled equipment, commonly referred to as CNC equipment, such as drills used to cut metal, he said.  The Stuxnet code modifies programmable logic controllers in the frequency converter drives used to control the motors. It changes the frequencies of the converter, first to higher than 1400 Hz and then down to 2 Hz--speeding it up and then nearly halting it--before setting it at just over 1000 Hz, according to Chien.  &quot;Basically, it is messing with the speed at which the motor runs, which could cause all kinds of things to happen,&quot; he said. &quot;The quality of what is being produced would go down or not be able to be produced at all. For example, a facility wouldn't be able to enrich uranium properly.&quot; It could also cause physical damage to the motor, Chien said. &quot;We have confirmation that this industrial process automation system is essentially being sabotaged,&quot; he added.  Symantec was able to figure out what the malware does and exactly what systems it targets after getting a tip from a Dutch expert in the Profibus network protocol, which is used in these specific industrial control systems. The information had to do with the fact that the frequency drives all have a unique serial number, according to Chien. &quot;We were able to pair up a couple of numbers we had with some devices and figured out they were frequency drives,&quot; he said.  &quot;The real world implications [to Stuxnet] are pretty frightening,&quot; Chien said. &quot;We're not talking about a credit card being stolen. We're talking about physical machines potentially causing damage in the real world. And clearly there are some geopolitical concerns, as well.&quot; Chien has more detailed technical information in this blog post. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Jaguar's supercomputing reign coming to an end]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jaguars-supercomputing-reign-coming-to-an-end</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jaguars-supercomputing-reign-coming-to-an-end</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Suzana</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jaguars-supercomputing-reign-coming-to-an-end</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A timeline of supercomputing speed.(Credit:AMD)The Jaguar supercomputer, housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the University of Tennessee, has been the fastest supercomputer on the planet for almost a year. But is it about to lose that title and place atop the podiumEvery six months, the Top500 project releases the rankings of the most powerful supercomputers. The current pace of technology development means the list does tend to reorder every half a year or so. But Jaguar has been poised at the top of the food chain for almost a year. Though the Top500 list doesn't get released until next week, it's been widely assumed that Jaguar will be taken down by a supercomputer built by China's National University of Defense Technology, located at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin.Jaguar narrowly avoided being overtaken in June, the last time the rankings were released. The Nebulae supercomputer, located at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, came in second, achieving 1.271 petaflops/s (1.271 quadrillion floating point operations per second) running something called the Linpack benchmark. But it appears that Jaguar's lead has been overcome this time. There have been reports about it over the last few weeks, and President Barack Obama even mentioned it during a speech last week:&quot;And we just learned that China now has the fastest supercomputer on Earth--that used to be us. They're making investments because they know those investments will pay off over the long term,&quot; he said.The supercomputers are ranked on many factors, but the the Top500 list is ordered based on the results of the Linpack benchmark. Even if it places the Tianjin supercomputer above Jaguar, it doesn't necessarily mean the U.S. is getting bumped from its perch atop supercomputing, argue two scientists who work at Oak Ridge.&quot;What you find historically with these supercomputers is they become the normal machines 5 or 10 years later that everybody uses.&quot;--Jeremy Smith, Center for Molecular Biophysics&quot;China might have the largest number of cores in one computer, so theoretically they have the most powerful computer. But they maybe don't have the most powerful scientific codes yet that use that computer,&quot; said Jeremy Smith, director of the Center for Molecular Biophysics at the University of Tennessee, in an interview. &quot;So from that perspective, they may not be at the same level as Oak Ridge.&quot;Jaguar is comprised of more than 250,000 AMD Opteron cores, running extremely sophisticated computer programs that try to answer complex questions like why ribosomes (components of cells that create amino acids) are dependent on magnesium, how to simulate making more environmentally-friendly ethanol out of plant material, and how to predict climate change. Jaguar's specialty is getting all those cores running together extremely efficiently, which is a separate and perhaps harder task than just building a really powerful computer.Smith says that the projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory run extremely efficiently on Jaguar, and the scientific value of the computing is therefore very high.While China's supercomputer is based on GPUs (graphics processing unit) (in this case, built by Nvidia), and it's faster technically because the CPU (central processing unit) uses the GPU to accelerate its speed. But if you don't get the software to run on it properly, it's actually harder to use, Roland Schultz, graduate student at the University of Tennessee's Center for Molecular Biophysics, said.What Schultz says he is much more interested in is the Gordon Bell Prize, which is awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery to the most innovative scientific application of supercomputing. Teams from Oak Ridge have won most recently in 2008 and 2009 for research into high-temperature superconductivity, or sending electricity over long distances in high temperatures with no loss of transmission.But do we make too much of who's faster Smith put it in perspective.&quot;What you find historically with these supercomputers is they become the normal machines 5 or 10 years later that everybody uses,&quot; said Smith. &quot;The Jaguar machines that we're so amazed at right now, it could be every university or company has one&quot; eventually.We'll know exactly how things have shaken out next week when the Top500 List is released. But even if Jaguar does get hunted down by a Chinese supercomputer, it's not as if the folks at Oak Ridge are sitting still. The Department of Energy, which owns Oak Ridge's supercomputer, is already looking at moving from the current peta-scale computing (a quadrillion floating point operations per second) to exa-scale computing (a quintillion floating point operations per second), a speed one thousand times faster than Jaguar is currently capable of processing at.&quot;To get there in the next 5 to 10 years, to get to 10 million cores in one room, is a major technical challenge,&quot; noted Smith. &quot;It's going to be fundamentally different than before. It's a hardware problem, and getting the software working is a major challenge indeed.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Study: Cloud computing for business uses less energy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-cloud-computing-for-business-uses-less-energy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-cloud-computing-for-business-uses-less-energy</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>siringbim252</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-cloud-computing-for-business-uses-less-energy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Microsoft-sponsored analysis released today reaffirms what many tech companies have long been saying: computing is more efficient when it's concentrated in the &quot;cloud&quot; at giant data centers. The range of savings from having hosted vs. on-premise IT infrastructure is between 30 percent and 90 percent, according to the study, which was conducted by Accenture and sustainability consulting company WSP Energy &amp; Environment.The greatest energy and greenhouse reductions can be achieved by small businesses with fewer than 100 users. The study was designed around a comparison of three Microsoft applications--SharePoint, Exchange, and Dynamics CRM--in an on-premise mode or using the online versions.The reasons for the lower energy use go to the nature of cloud computing, where large corporations, such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, run very large data centers and deliver software over the Internet. These companies specialize in running computing infrastructure and have a financial interest in adapting energy-saving technology, such as virtualization and dynamically provisioned software. Three products' on-premise and cloud-based services compared. (Click for larger version.)(Credit:Accenture, WSP Energy &amp;amp' Environment)&quot;Cloud providers spend a significant share of their company's operational expense on IT--much more than an average corporation with its own IT department,&quot; according to the report. &quot;This circumstance leads to an increased focus on cost and efficiency improvement, driving optimization of data center and application performance beyond what many businesses can achieve on their own.&quot;Intuitively, a shared infrastructure for computing is going to be more efficient than corporate IT data centers, which have traditionally dedicated specific servers and storage to separate applications in order to ensure reliability. But with a state-of-the art data center design and focus on reducing energy consumption, corporate data centers could be run very efficiently.For applications where large amounts of data need to transported, it's better to have on-premise computing from an energy perspective, according to Earth2Tech, which says that the University of Melbourne will release a report to that effect next week.Researcher Jonathan Koomey, an expert on efficiency and cloud computing, argues that there are inherent cost advantages to centralized computing in the cloud. His research has found that everything from online business applications to downloadable music results in energy reductions. &quot;There are powerful economic factors pushing us towards cloud computing,&quot; Koomey said at the Uptime Institute Symposium earlier this year, according to a report at Data Center Knowledge. &quot;One of the major reasons is the more efficient use of power by cloud computing providers.&quot;Beyond the cloud Underlying the discussion about energy efficiency and IT is the growing understanding that more and more pollution is coming from computing. According to the EPA, data centers in the U.S. consumed 1.5 percent of total electricity in 2006. But as more people rely on cloud-based services, energy consumption is projected to grow at a rate of 9 percent per year this decade, according to reports. (See PDF of Greenpeace study from earlier this year).Groups such as Greenpeace are applying more public pressure to cloud providers, such as Facebook and Google, and, to some extent, they are responding.When it comes to cloud computing and energy, though, few companies appear willing to publish their total energy consumption or emissions, perhaps for competitive reasons. One way to be more transparent about cloud computing energy use would be for these companies to publish the efficiency of their data centers and disclose any plans to lower them.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[FCC documents reveal entry-level HTC Paradise bound for AT&T]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-documents-reveal-entry-level-htc-paradise-bound-for-att</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-documents-reveal-entry-level-htc-paradise-bound-for-att</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lasirzi3</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-documents-reveal-entry-level-htc-paradise-bound-for-att</guid>
<description><![CDATA[HTC Paradise(Credit:FCC)An entry-level HTC handset with AT&amp;T markings has been spotted in recent certification documents for the Federal Communications Comission. The device, known as the HTC Paradise, features a four-row sliding QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel camera, an optical joystick, and the usual support for an FM radio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. According to the FCC papers, the phone is equipped to handle AT&amp;T's 3G bands. Though it should offer HTC Sense, the actual version of Android remains to be seen.In the pictures associated with the filing, you can see traces of HTC's later designs. The metal ring around the camera reminds me of the EVO 4G and Droid Incredible, and the front ear piece looks similar to the Desire HD. Even the sliding mechanism on the back takes a page directly out of the MyTouch 3G Slide's book. Inside, however, I don't see anything in here that would stand out against the ever-growing crop of Android phones. Without knowing the processor and memory, I would wager that this ends up with a very low price tag, possibly free. In fact, it would not surprise me much if this phone just gets scrapped altogether. PhoneScoop thinks that this may already be the case, being that we have yet to hear about the Paradise on any front. Then again, AT&amp;T currently lacks a sliding QWERTY handset in its lineup.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[BMW sends plug-in Vision EfficientDynamics to production]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bmw-sends-plug-in-vision-efficientdynamics-to-production</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bmw-sends-plug-in-vision-efficientdynamics-to-production</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:11:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lynda</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bmw-sends-plug-in-vision-efficientdynamics-to-production</guid>
<description><![CDATA[BMW announced today that it's sending the Vision EfficientDynamics plug-in sportscar to production.The plug-in diesel concept coupe was revealed at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and won the manufacturer several awards for its innovative design and clean technology. The Vision EfficientDynamics uses three power plants to propel the winged 2+2: a three-cylinder turbo diesel engine along with electric motors at each axle. The exotic can operate using its electric motors, diesel engine, or a combination of the two. Full throttle, the trio produces a total of of 328 horsepower and has a 0-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds. BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept revealed (photos) Despite its impressive stats, the BMW has better fuel economy than a Prius, achieving 75.1 mpg. Using only its lithium polymer battery, the Vision EfficientDynamics has an electric range of 31 miles before its diesel engine kicks in, which extends the coupe's range to 435 miles. Even more impressive: the four-seater's battery can be fully recharged in only 2.5 hours using a conventional power socket.This drivetrain sounds futuristic, but this technology was already in production or near production at the 2009 auto show, and can be found in the BMW ActiveHybrid 7 and upcoming EVs, such as the MINI E and BMW MegaCity Vehicle in 2013. The Vision EfficientDynamics will receive a few structural changes (bye bye glass doors) and will be constructed entirely of carbon fiber, according to BMW Blog. Now all it needs is a real name.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Hotmail now works with other e-mail accounts, even Gmail]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-now-works-with-other-e-mail-accounts-even-gmail</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-now-works-with-other-e-mail-accounts-even-gmail</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pnopnolim34</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-now-works-with-other-e-mail-accounts-even-gmail</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Windows Live Hotmail has a new trick up its sleeve--one that's aimed directly at getting users with e-mail accounts on other services to use it exclusively, even if they keep that address. That trick, which begins rolling out to Hotmail users today, lets them add accounts from other Web mail services that can be read and sent from within the Hotmail Web client.As Hotmail's group program manager Dick Craddock writes on the Inside Windows Live blog, this functionality is something that's long been available in the Outlook software client, but not on the Web. Craddock also notes that more than 30 million Hotmail registrations have taken place where users provided another service's e-mail address to get in the door, and that these will now show up as an account you can link up to within the Web client.Once a user has set up their outside account within Hotmail, they can read and search through messages, as well as respond to them from that address. The feature uses POP, meaning that unlike IMAP (which may, or may not be available through the other e-mail provider), whatever changes are made in Hotmail don't make an impact on things like read count or organization back on the source account.Microsoft is billing the new send from account feature as a way to make use of Hotmail's specialty features, which includes spam filtering, media sharing, and the mass deletion and reorganization tool it's dubbed as &quot;sweep&quot;--all without having to leave whatever account you're already using. Hotmail will now let you use an e-mail address from another provider to read and send from that address. (Credit:Microsoft)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[California unveils greenhouse gas trading plan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO--California unveiled its final draft of a market system to curb greenhouse gases, relaxing expected rules in the face of a weak economy in a measure that could set the tone for the nation's climate policy. By agreeing to give away virtually all necessary permits to factories and power plants when the scheme starts in 2012 rather than sell them at auction, the state with the biggest economy and population is acknowledging the challenges of double-digit unemployment--and the reality that pollution decreases as the economy slows. California aims to cap total emissions of gases linked to global warming and let factories and power plants trade for an ever-decreasing number of permits to emit gases. In theory, market forces will drive efficiency in the system, known as cap and trade. There is still a debate about the economic merits of the plan, which planners in the Friday draft (PDF) estimate will shave about 0.1 percent from annual state growth. Many Californians see such environmental regulation as positive for the economy by spurring &quot;green&quot; jobs. Voters on Tuesday could put on hold a climate change law, including the emissions market, but polls show the Proposition 23 challenge to the state's climate change law is set to be rebuffed. After the failure of federal climate legislation, the fate of California's law and the details of its cap-and-trade plan are seen as a U.S. turning point--either away from addressing climate change or toward stronger action. The state's 2006 law requires it to return to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and the hobbled economy has produced fewer greenhouse gas emissions than expected, making the goal less onerous. The state agency planning cap-and-trade has responded in part by ignoring a suggestion by a panel of economists last year to auction off the emissions permits. Under the plan unveiled on Friday and likely to be adopted December 16 by the powerful Air Resources Board, the brunt of the market force will not be brought to bear for years. Planners say that by setting clear limits and clear rules for the scheme, it hits a compromise that will allow polluters flexibility to act, investors certainty, and it will improve the environment without causing economic disruption. The plan ensures easy compliance terms in early years, and planners reserve the right to give preferential terms to industries that are at risk of fleeing the state. Polluters will be given on average about 97 or 98 percent of the permits they will require in the first year, with a longer term goal of some 90 percent. In addition up to 8 percent of their permit needs could be met with so-called offset credits from projects that avoid emissions or soak up greenhouse gases--such as planting trees. The state will create as many permits as expected emissions in the first year, and it will set aside an average of 4 percent of permits over 2012-2020 to be sold if trading prices go too high. The reserve will be about 1 percent in 2012. Any permits auctioned by the state will cost at least $10 per tonne in the first year, rising to $15 in 2020. There will also be a range of ceiling prices each year, in case trade becomes too volatile, rising in steps between $40 and $50 per tonne in 2012 to a top range of $60 to $75 in 2020. Transportation fuels will not be covered until the second round of trade, starting in 2015, when roughly 85 percent of state emissions will be governed by cap-and-trade. California is part of an 11-member group of states and Canadian provinces, the Western Climate Initiative, which aims to start a joint trading scheme in 2012, beginning with a few members. A similar cap-and-trade system is in place in Europe and a limited scheme already is operating in the U.S. northeast. Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Is China a supercomputer threat (Q&A)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-china-a-supercomputer-threat-qa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-china-a-supercomputer-threat-qa</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jasmine01</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-china-a-supercomputer-threat-qa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jack Dongarra, a professor at University of Tennessee&amp;39's department of electrical engineering. China&amp;39's supercomputer is a &amp;39'wake-up call.&amp;39'(Credit:University of Tennessee)With China expected to officially take the supercomputer performance crown next month, I asked an expert about the state of supercomputing in the U.S. and whether China poses a long-term threat to the United States' current preeminence in supercomputing. Nvidia announced yesterday that its chips are powering the &quot;Tianhe-1A&quot; Chinese supercomputer that achieved 2.507 petaflops, beating a U.S.-based system that is currently ranked No. 1 on the June Top500 list of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The Chinese system is a unique hybrid design that uses approximately 7,000 Nvidia graphics chips along with 14,000 Intel Xeon CPUs. The graphics chips are what give the system the extra oomph to catapult it into the top supercomputer spot. I spoke with Jack Dongarra, university distinguished professor at University of Tennessee's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and part of a group from the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and Georgia Tech that recently purchased a hybrid system. It is important to note that Oak Ridge houses the supercomputer, dubbed &quot;Jaguar,&quot; cited above that is currently ranked No. 1 in the world based on the Top500 June list: it is not a hybrid system.Q: Does Oak Ridge have anything analogous to the Chinese hybrid systemDongarra: Oak Ridge has a small version of a machine that is hybrid in nature. So, this is an acquisition that just took place...out of a grant from the National Science Foundation. It involved Oak Ridge National Labs, University of Tennessee, and Georgia Tech. But it's much, much smaller than the Chinese system. The machine is in place and testing is being carried out at Oak Ridge. A node has two Intel Westmere chips and three Nvidia Fermi boards. There are  120 nodes in the system. What makes the Chinese supercomputer so fastDongarra: The Chinese designed their own interconnect. It's not commodity. It's based on chips, based on a router, based on a switch that they produce. Is that in essence the secret sauce Dongarra: It's similar to Cray. Cray's contribution, besides the integration and software, is the interconnect network. They have a very fast interconnect that makes that machine perform very well. Though [the Chinese] project is based on U.S. processors, it uses a Chinese interconnect. That's the interesting part. They've put something together that is roughly twice the bandwidth of an InfiniBand interconnect [which is used widely in the U.S.] Will the Chinese system in fact take the No. 1 spot on the Top500 list in November Dongarra: Yes. I saw the machine. I saw the output. It's the real thing. Why doesn't Oak Ridge do what the Chinese are doing Dongarra: Oak Ridge doesn't have the ability or technology to develop an interconnect or a router. We don't make computers. We buy computers and use them. It's not within our scope or mission to be in the computer design business. What's your advice Dongarra: You have to remember that you have to not only invest in the hardware. It's like a racecar. In order to run the race car, you need a driver. You need to effectively use the machine. And we need to invest in various levels within the supercomputer ecology. The ecology is made up of the hardware, the operating system, the compiler, the applications, the numerical libraries, and so on. And you have to maintain an investment across that whole software stack in order to effectively use the hardware. And that's an aspect that sometimes we forget about. It's underfunded. We fund the hardware but we don't fund the other components. The ecosystem tends to get out of balance because the hardware tends to run far ahead of what we can develop in terms of software. We have machines that have a tremendous level of parallelism. We currently have a very crude way of doing programming. Who would do that Dongarra: The research is performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. Is this a red flag for the U.S. Dongarra: Yes, this is a wake-up call. We need to realize that other countries are capable of doing this. We're losing an advantage. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Yahoo, Microsoft using common paid search]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-microsoft-using-common-paid-search</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-microsoft-using-common-paid-search</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>compling</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-microsoft-using-common-paid-search</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Microsoft and Yahoo said today that they have completed the shift to using Redmond's AdCenter tools to power paid search in the U.S. and Canada on Yahoo and its partner sites.&quot;As of today, AdCenter powers 100 percent of paid search advertisements on both Bing and Yahoo!, partner sites and publisher networks in the U.S. and Canada,&quot; the companies said in a joint statement. It's part of the companies' massive 10-year deal aimed at joining forces in search to better rival market leader Google.(Credit:Yahoo/Microsoft)Although the companies had a goal of doing so by the end of this month, they had said they were willing to push things back so as not to interfere with business in the all-important holiday shopping season.&quot;The transition comes after months of testing and collaboration between Yahoo! and Microsoft, with strict attention being paid to protecting the quality of experience for publishers and advertisers during the upcoming holiday season,&quot; the companies said.Yahoo made the shift to using Bing for organic (non-paid) search results in August.The companies still plan to move Yahoo's mobile search advertising to Microsoft's engine by the end of October. The international move will take more time, with the complete work not expected to be complete until early 2012. On the organic front, the companies plan to shift Spanish-speaking Latin America in the first quarter of next year. For paid search, the first countries will be the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, and India, which are slated for the second quarter. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
