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<title>Haaze.com / Smith / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Samsung UND8000 TV review: Nearly naked picture lacks uniformity]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-und8000-tv-review-nearly-naked-picture-lacks-uniformity</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-und8000-tv-review-nearly-naked-picture-lacks-uniformity</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>meligansofil</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-und8000-tv-review-nearly-naked-picture-lacks-uniformity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The 0.2-inch bezel around the UND8000&amp;39's picture seems to vanish when the TV is turned on.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET) The Samsung UND8000 LED-based LCD TV shows the company's considerable technological know-how brought to bear on a simple design goal: to make the &quot;TV&quot; itself disappear to as large an extent as possible when turned on, leaving nothing but the picture. Seen in person, the design is a spectacular success that will command attention and be worth the exceedingly high price to some buyers with cash to burn. And despite its compact dimensions the UND8000 also manages to squeeze in more features than just about any TV we've ever reviewed. Other buyers, however, will have a hard time overlooking its principal picture-quality flaw. Its screen lacks the brightness and color uniformity required for peak performance, apparently a casualty of that awesome design. At base the UND8000 represents a simple choice between a quality picture and the best design and features. We think that buyers who can afford this TV shouldn't have to make that choice, but for now they do.Read the full review of the Samsung UND8000 series.Samsung UND8000 series (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rumor: New MacBook Pro case design coming]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-new-macbook-pro-case-design-coming</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-new-macbook-pro-case-design-coming</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>svetalakn</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-new-macbook-pro-case-design-coming</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new rumor pegs Apple as preparing a new MacBook Pro case design to replace the current unibody aluminum case. The new case design should be present on the next revision of the MacBook Pro, which just saw an update back in February. According to the sources of the rumor, the early 2011 MacBook Pro update is the last with the current case design.MacRumors claims that its source is reliably confirming the updated design, first leaked on iLounge just before February's MacBook Pro update. As noted by MacRumors, the unibody design currently used for MacBook Pro models was first introduced in late 2008, changing the classic MacBook Pro look that had been a holdover from early PowerBook models. No details of what the case design might look like have surfaced, but if the rumor holds, expect to see leaked photos and information shortly.It is likely that the new design would take cues from iPhones, iPads, and iPods, possibly adding touch-screen capabilities, showing off the soon-to-be-releasedMac OS X 7 Lion's touch-friendly desktop operating system features borrowed from iOS.What's on your short list for new MacBook Pro features Let me know in the comments!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[After Android, Squeezebox app comes to iOS]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-android-squeezebox-app-comes-to-ios</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-android-squeezebox-app-comes-to-ios</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>naticx</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-android-squeezebox-app-comes-to-ios</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Squeezebox Controller running on the iPhone.(Credit:Logitech)Logitech has finally launched its Squeezebox Controller app for iOS-based devices, it announced in a blog post yesterday.The Squeezebox Controller for theiPad,iPhone, andiPod Touch connects to users' Squeezebox player over their home wireless network. Users can choose music, customize tracks, and search for content from the app. According to Logitech, all the features available to users in their players are included in the app. The launch of the Squeezebox Controller app for iOS-based devices comes a month after the company launched the program in the Android Market. Like the iOS option, Logitech's Android app gives users total control over the company's line of Squeezebox devices. Logitech offers a range of Squeezebox players, including the Radio and Duet, which allow users to stream music content throughout the home. They also include access to Pandora, Slacker, and other music-streaming services. The Squeezebox Radio is a favorite of the CNET Reviews team. In 2009, the device earned four of five stars, receiving high marks for the amount of content available and user-friendliness. It retails for $179.99, though savvy shoppers can get it for less online. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sony Ericsson announces W8 Walkman phone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-announces-w8-walkman-phone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-announces-w8-walkman-phone</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>latia507</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-announces-w8-walkman-phone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sony&amp;39's W8 Walkman phone brings Android to iconic Walkman line.(Credit:Sony Ericsson)Using just a post on its Web site, Sony Ericsson unceremoniously unveiled its next Android-powered phone today, the W8 Walkman. Looking nearly identical to last summer's Xperia X8, the smartphone features a 3-inch touch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a 600MHz processor. The W8 Walkman runs Android 2.1 with Sony Ericsson's custom Timescape UI so it should be able to run most games and applications. Virtually indistinguishable from the Xperia X8, both offer Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth support as well. I might expect apps centered around music and media playback, but the Sony Ericsson blog mentions new or exciting.Initially, the W8 Walkman phone will be offered in Asia-Pacific markets in three color options: Azure Blue, Metallic Red, and Iconic Orange. As of this time there are no indications that we'll see this phone at a U.S. carrier.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPad 2 supply catching up with demand]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-supply-catching-up-with-demand</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-supply-catching-up-with-demand</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bugmaningdfd</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-supply-catching-up-with-demand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)Are supplies of theiPad 2 finally starting to get closer to demandCustomers who buy the newtablet through Apple's online store now have to wait just one to two weeks before it ships. The new estimate follows a roller coaster ride that started with an initial and short-lived wait time of only three to five days before hitting a high of four to five weeks not long after after the iPad 2 made its debut.But over the past month, the ship time has gradually decreased, reaching three to four weeks in late March and then two to three weeks earlier this month.Discussing Apple's second-quarter earnings yesterday, COO Tim Cook said the company was continuing to make a larger number of iPads to reach the &quot;staggering&quot; demand but couldn't say when supply would catch up with that demand.&quot;We sold every iPad 2 we could make and the demand was stunning,&quot; Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told Reuters in an interview.Second-quarter unit sales of the iPad (both the original and the iPad 2) came in at 4.69 million, lower than many analysts had forecast. Some had been expecting Apple to sell as many as 9 million tablets for the quarter, though the average forecast among analysts polled by Fortune had called for sales of 6 million.J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz had lowered his quarterly estimate for the iPad last week to 5.4 million units from 6 million previously. Moskowitz told CNET in a recent interview that Apple has faced difficulty in the past keeping up with demand for other devices, such as theiPhone. Ramping up the iPad 2 was more challenging, according to Moskowitz, because some of its new features were based on new types of components that couldn't yet be manufactured fast enough. Beyond that, Apple likely just failed to anticipate the overwhelming demand, the analyst added. However, Moskowitz believes that the lower-than-expected sales of the iPad had more to do with timing than demand, pointing to Apple's statement that it's facing the &quot;mother of all backlogs&quot; and is now working to bump up supply. Looking at the full calendar year 2011, the analyst recently upped his forecast for iPad unit sales to 31.1 million from 29.1 million previously. Apple will launch the iPad 2 in 13 more countries next week and expand the tablet's market further through the third quarter of the year. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nanoparticles may 'kick backside' of fatal bacteria]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nanoparticles-may-kick-backside-of-fatal-bacteria</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nanoparticles-may-kick-backside-of-fatal-bacteria</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2011 07:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>eolarnl</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nanoparticles-may-kick-backside-of-fatal-bacteria</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Every year, an infectious &quot;superbug&quot; known as MRSA kills thousands of Americans who never should have died. But an international group of scientists think they may have found the key to shutting down the lethal bacteria that leads to these deaths and to countless less-serious infections.According to IBM Research, which worked with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore on the discovery of the new antibiotic nanoparticles, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) killed 19,000 Americans in 2005. This dangerous infectious bacteria is often found in hospitals and other places, like health clubs and schools, where people come into close contact with each other. And IBM says that health professionals have had an extremely hard time combating MRSA and similar bacteria because they are micro-organisms that can quickly evolve and resist existing antibiotics, mainly because the drugs don't effectively attack the cell walls or membranes of the bacteria.But according to Jim Hedrick, the advanced organic materials scientist at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., the new nanoparticle material that the international team has come up with &quot;Doesn't just muck with the DNA [of the bacteria], it kicks some serious backside.&quot;In other words, Hedrick explained, the potential now exists to make a kind of biodegradable nanoparticle that can be applied to the human body, either through injection or topical application, that could eradicate superbugs like MRSA. And looking down the line, Hedrick added, the team thinks other dangerous bacteria, like E-coli, could also be in its gun sights. &amp;149' Taking IBM's supercomputer to Final 'Jeopardy' (Q&amp;A)&amp;149' IBM breakthrough could measure rapid changes to atoms&amp;149' At IBM Research, a constant quest for the bleeding edge&amp;149' IBM: Computer rivaling human brain could be ready by 2019And for those who may find it interesting that IBM would be working on science like this, it's actually not that surprising, the company says.That's because the underlying technology behind the discovery of the nanoparticles came from IBM's work in semiconductor manufacturing, it said.Not ready for prime time Though there's a lot of promise in the nanoparticles, Hedrick said these new treatments are nowhere near ready for public use. First they would have to be put through clinical trials, and that's something IBM is not allowed to be involved in. But he said, IBM's Singaporean partners in the project have already done research that demonstrates that the nanoparticles present no toxicity to human cells, meaning they could very well be safe to use while potentially addressing one of the most serious problems to plague hospitals and other public venues.At the heart of the potential new treatment is a set of nanostructured polymer materials that have a very specific electric charge, Hedrick said. The idea is that they would rip apart the cell walls and membranes of the dangerous bacteria by creating an electrostatic interaction in which the particles' north pole meets the south pole of the bacterium and goes after the microbe's charge. Then, a fluid system &quot;disrupts this membrane and basically rips it open.&quot;Other uses While IBM and its Singaporean partner are touting the possible impact their nanoparticle treatment could have on serious bacteria like MRSA, Hedrick said there are also more pedestrian applications.For example, it could be employed in low-end products where bacteria &quot;play an adverse role&quot; like deodorants and mouthwash. As well, it could be used in things like bandages or sutures, and other products used in healing wounds, and catheters, since about 20 percent of people who use them end up with infections that are expensive to treat, he said.The IBM Research and Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology scientists published their findings today in the journal &quot;Nature Chemistry.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Firefox for Android gets it mostly right (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-for-android-gets-it-mostly-right-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-for-android-gets-it-mostly-right-video</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gonzaloles</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-for-android-gets-it-mostly-right-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The wait for a Mac with 3G/4G continues]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>qaziopper</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)With Apple's most recent MacBook update in the rear-view mirror, now's as good a time as any to think about what could be headed to the next generation of the company's notebook lineup. Of particular interest is embedded mobile broadband, a notable omission to theMac laptop range that's now stretched into a waiting game of its own. This is the technology that lets your computer tap into cellular networks and use broadband data while on the go, sans a dopey USB adapter or wireless puck. While seemingly a luxury feature aimed at business travellers a decade ago, embedded 3G, and now 4G, have become increasingly prevalent in PC laptops aimed at consumers. Apple has also embraced the wireless technology in itsiPad, having jumped it from theiPhone to the original iPad on AT&amp;T's GSM network, then later, on Verizon's CDMA network with the iPad 2. So what's the holdup in bringing that same technology to Macs Is Apple waiting for somethingTo the company's credit, it has provided a product that gives its own laptops wireless 3G service, though it's nowhere as seamless as a built-in modem. Since iOS 3.0, users with iPhones and a carrier data plan that supports tethering, can share their phone's connection with their computer over a USB connection or Bluetooth. In the Verizon version of the iPhone 4, Apple introduced a slightly more elegant feature that would let users turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, something that was later brought to GSM iPhone users in iOS 4.3. The easiest explanation to throw in at the moment is that the timing has been off on the network side of the equation: 3G as we know it is on the road to being replaced by 4G, which offers a big speed improvement. Speed becomes especially important on computers versus phones because of the things people tend to do on them, like stream videos' download files and e-mail attachments' and run multiple applications that can slurp up data at a faster clip than smartphone apps. But the carriers and service providers have not made it so easy to get to that promised land of fast, wireless data. 4G as it's been marketed in the States is not truly 4G by the strict definition. There are different flavors of that &quot;4G,&quot; like WiMax, HSPA+, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). Providers have placed bets on the competing parts of the spectrum, creating a situation where there's no easy way to buy hardware that will work with them all--though tech is on the way that can do that. 4G-chip maker Beceem, which was acquired by Broadcom back in October, has a chip in development that does both WiMax and LTE. Apple uses Broadcom's wireless chips in the iPad as well as the iPhone, and for Wi-Fi on its Macs. A similar dual-mode chip initiative was put forth by Sequans at Mobile World Congress last month. Intel, which supplies chips for Apple's notebooks and desktops is also said to be working on a similar solution of its own. In the interim that leaves device makers like Apple, as well as consumers, having to pick a standard and stick to it.   The 4G laptop scene On the PC-side of things, the vast majority of machines with embedded WWAN chipsets have already made the move to WiMax. A quick search on retailer Best Buy's site shows that 47 of its 151 PC laptops for sale have WiMax, with just one opting for the older 3G. According to one broadband-chip expert CNET spoke with, the simplest explanation for that is that Clearwire, which serves up WiMax, beat others to the punch by setting up its network fast and wide, leaving device makers to respond in kind. But that could change going forward. &quot;We expect LTE to be the most successful 4G standard, but right now it's Clearwire that got out there early,&quot; Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at chip consulting firm The Linley Group, said in a phone interview last week.Gwennap downplayed the importance of built-in WWAN chipsets, saying carriers made both joining and changing platforms an easy affair with USB modems that are cross platform and can be used on multiple machines. This approach has also lent itself to better 4G battery life than what's been seen on some early 4G phones, since laptops had a higher capacity battery.&quot;Typically the way this works with the laptops is you get a USB stick and you plug it in, so it draws power from the laptop. In that case, the power draw isn't significant,&quot; Gwennap said. &quot;What people are complaining about is trying to put 4G into a smartphone, where you draw it down from a cell phone battery. Then the power draw is going to be a problem.&quot;Gwennap did say that like any other piece of technology, embedded broadband chipsets will get cheaper, draw less power, and take up less space inside of computers. However that would be over &quot;the next couple of years.&quot;  The long rumor Signs that Apple is mulling a broadband modem in its notebook computers have swirled for years, from pure conjecture to patent filings to company job postings that sought out wireless experts. None have offered a clear picture' several have hinted that it's tantalizingly close.  The patented notebook with the antenna.(Credit:Google) Last August, Apple filed for a rather interesting patent of a notebook computer with an antenna that could be installed and removed from the top lid. Similar to the Smart Cover that's available for the iPad 2, or the company's remote control on the side of the iMac, this would simply latch on or break away using magnets, making the accessory a temporary fixture. In a new patent that was filed just last week, the company offered up a slightly different design, building a space for the removable antenna module right into the lid, so the antenna wouldn't stick out, and so there'd presumably be a way to store the antenna when on the go. Three years ago, following the MacBook Air's introduction, a USA Today interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs made note that the company had explored putting 3G into the first generation MacBook Air, but eventually decided against it based on how much extra room it took up, and that computer buyers would be restricted to a carrier. Both of those hurdles seem to have been overcome with the iPad 2, given that Apple sells versions for both CDMA and GSM phone networks in a device that's slimmer than the iPhone, and manages to get 9 hours of rated battery life while surfing the Web.Following the introduction of the first generation MacBook Air, it was widely expected that Apple would then bring the feature to the next iteration of the laptop, though with its release back in October, that proved not to be the case. Interestingly enough, a survey put out by Apple last month, which was nabbed by AppleInsider, suggested that the company still had a model of the Air with WWAN in mind. The survey offered up several wireless data related questions, including a detailed section on situations where participants would use 3G versus Wi-Fi while computing on the go. Apple has also increased its WWAN footprint, posting, back in 2009, Mac Hardware Group job listings for a quality assurance engineer with expertise in 3G wireless WAN. This was followed months later by the release of Mac OS X 10.6 (dubbed &quot;Snow Leopard&quot;), which dramatically increased the number of supported WWAN products. These were the aforementioned USB modems that have been one of the only ways to get 3G and 4G service piped right into a Mac. So where does that leave us now If those patents for a neat, removable antenna turn out to bear fruit, such technology is likely to come as part of an all new MacBook design. Since the last big one was in late 2008 with the move to the unibody enclosure, it's likely another major laptop generation will come sooner rather than later. Until then, consumers don't seem to mind too much though. Mac sales continue to grow, and even outpace those in the PC market.Something that could certainly change things is the recently announced planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&amp;T, which promises to speed up the deployment of its 4G LTE network to what the company says will be 95 percent of the U.S. population when finished. AT&amp;T has been Apple's business partner since the rollout of the first iPhone, and had been the phone's exclusive carrier in the U.S. up until the device was brought to Verizon earlier this year. Even so, the AT&amp;T and T-Mobile merger deal still needs to clear regulatory hurdles, and the combining of those networks will likely take even longer. Not to mention the fact that that still doesn't solve the original problem of keeping computer buyers from being stuck with a provider, or the issue of making a product that can work around the globe. Until all that's cleared up, the situation will continue to be a game of wait and see--though that's one Apple has gotten pretty good at. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[U.S. warns SCADA systems at risk]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-scada-systems-at-risk</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-scada-systems-at-risk</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rockyraj1919</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-scada-systems-at-risk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The U.S. government is warning that critical infrastructure systems are at risk of being compromised or attacked in response to the public release of exploits for dozens of holes in four different supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA software products.  Saying he had no previous knowledge of SCADA systems before beginning his analysis &quot;some months ago,&quot; Italian researcher Luigi Auriemma yesterday posted proof-of-concept software targeting Siemens Tecnomatix FactoryLink, Iconics GENESIS32 and GENESIS64, 7-Technologies IGSS (Interactive Graphical SCADA System) and DATAC RealWin products to the BugTraq security e-mail list. SCADA systems allow employees at utilities and other industrial plants to monitor and control sensors and operations. &quot;In technical terms, the SCADA software is just the same as any other software used everyday,&quot; Auriemma wrote, adding that he was able to exploit common bugs including exploit stack, heap and integer overflows, as well as perform arbitrary command executions and memory corruptions, modify format strings, and exploit design problems and other bugs. He told CNET in an e-mail this afternoon that he released 34 advisories, some of them covering multiple vulnerabilities.  The move prompted the U.S. government's ICS-CERT (Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Response Team) to swing into action and issue four different alerts for each of the affected SCADA products within 12 hours of Auriemma's disclosure.  &quot;ICS-CERT recommends that users minimize network exposure for all control system devices. Control system devices should not directly face the Internet,&quot; the advisories said. &quot;Locate control system networks and devices behind firewalls, and isolate them from the business network. If remote access is required, employ secure methods such as virtual private networks (VPNs).&quot;  Asked what his motivation was, Auriemma said he did it to educate the research community and alert the software makers to the problems with their products. &quot;For the security community (other people like me) it serves a lot because from a technical perspective the vulnerabilities I have released are interesting and very heterogeneous,&quot; he wrote. &quot;From the point of view of the vendors, consider that they have had a security auditing of their software completely for free and with so much detail that they can fix the vulnerabilities on the fly.&quot; The disclosure comes a week after Moscow-based security firm Gleg released its own software--dubbed &quot;Agora_ SCADA Exploit Pack for CANVAS&quot;--targeting 11 zero-day, or unpatched, SCADA holes, according to The Register. The Gleg Web site was inaccessible today, possibly due to denial-of-service attacks, Dan Goodin at The Register reported, however information on those exploits was posted on the SCADAhacker blog.  The disclosure follows last year's scare with the Stuxnet threat that targeted specific Siemens software used in industrial control operations that experts have said appears to have been written with nuclear facilities in Iran in mind. It was only a matter of time before hackers poked holes in more SCADA software used in refineries, gas pipelines, and other critical operations, experts say.  &quot;I am not at all surprised about these vulnerabilities. The (Department of Homeland Security) puts on a great training session which points out a whole pile of vulnerabilities,&quot; Mike Ahmadi, co-founder of consultancy GraniteKey. &quot;SCADA/ICS vulnerabilities are quite numerous, since the systems were not designed to be secure. They are designed to be reliable, and security tends to impact reliability if not properly implemented and managed.&quot; Dale Peterson of Digital Bond, which does control system security assessments, said he examined about one-third of vulnerabilities from Auriemma and found them well documented and with adequate code and commands to compromise systems. &quot;There is a huge amount of legacy code out there with latent vulnerabilities waiting for smart guys like Luigi to find. Vendors that are making their software available for download have to expect that someone in the security research community, and probably some bad guys, will download the product just to find vulnerabilities and build exploits,&quot; Peterson wrote in a blog post. &quot;ICS vendors, do you have products available for free download Have they undergone any security testing If not, prepare for the very likely experience of zero-days.&quot;  Even with a push from the ICS-CERT, it will take time for the affected vendors to fix the products, experts said.  &quot;How long will it take to get patches for these vulnerabilities We'll have to wait and see,&quot; PJ Coyle wrote on his Chemical Facility Security News blog. &quot;Remember, though, the software development cycle started yesterday. Don't hold your breath' it takes time to fix these things.&quot;  The SCADA industry is transitioning from the legacy environment, in which systems were isolated from the Internet and focused on reliability instead of security, to a modern environment where the Internet is being leveraged to help improve efficiency. Security appears to be the casualty in the colliding of these two very different worlds.  &quot;It's going to be some time before we can say we have a level of security with industrial control systems, where we can put a stamp on it and say we've got a good handle on this,&quot; Ahmadi said. &quot;Eventually we'll get there. But it's not going to happen tomorrow or even a year from now.&quot; Updated 3:42 p.m. PTto add Auriemma comment and clarify that there were 34 advisories, some of which cover multiple vulnerabilities.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Telecom tycoon beats out Gates for top billionaire]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=telecom-tycoon-beats-out-gates-for-top-billionaire</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=telecom-tycoon-beats-out-gates-for-top-billionaire</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rezinu-PKv2011</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=telecom-tycoon-beats-out-gates-for-top-billionaire</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Forbes' latest list of the world's billionaires still points to Bill Gates and other familiar faces in the tech world, but Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim Helu again took first place as the richest.Carlos Slim Helu(Credit:carlosslim.com)Helu, whose family fortune is estimated by Forbes at $74 billion, up from $53.5 billion last year, owns America Movil, Latin America's largest wireless carrier. But the mogul upped his wealth over the past year through a series of mining and real estate deals as well as gains in the peso and the Mexican stock market.Still in no slouch in second place, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is worth $56 billion after having given away $30 billion through the Gates Foundation in an effort to combat disease, hunger, and other global problems. Seventy percent of his wealth is held in an investment fund, while the rest is in Microsoft stock.Another billionaire well known in the tech world is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who made fifth place with a net worth of $39.5 billion. That marks an $11.5 billion increase since last year courtesy of a 30 percent gain in Oracle's stock price. Though he slashed his salary as head of Oracle to $1 in 2009, he's managed to scoop up $960 million in compensation over the past five years, according to Forbes, mainly from cashing in on stock options.Further down the list were such tech players as Google founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin, each one with fortunes of $19.8 billion thanks in large part to the huge run-up in Google stock. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made the list with a net worth of $18.1 billion, now $5.8 billion richer than last year as the price of Amazon stock has shot up 50 percent, according to Forbes.Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg(Credit:Facebook)With the growing popularity of Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg joined the billionaires club last year and now is back with a net worth of $13.5 billion. A big jump from his $4 billion fortune in 2010, Zuckerberg's wealth grew by 238 percent thanks to funding from investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, which increased Facebook's valuation to $50 billion.Tracking the spread of wealth around the world for the past 25 years, Forbes found that the combined fortunes of all the world's billionaires this year hit $4.5 trillion. To rank the planet's richest people, more than 50 Forbes reporters worked throughout 13 different countries to tally each person's public holdings, private companies, real estate, art, and other possessions.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google search to reward high-quality sites]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-search-to-reward-high-quality-sites</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-search-to-reward-high-quality-sites</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xxyg12as</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-search-to-reward-high-quality-sites</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With the latest changes to its search algorithm, Google is aiming to reward Web sites that offer original, in-depth content at the same time that it penalizes those that simply borrow content from others.Rolled out this week, the changes will help ensure that sites considered to be of &quot;high quality&quot; will rank higher in Google's search results, while those deemed of &quot;low quality&quot; will get dumped lower in the ranks, according to a blog posted yesterday by Google fellow Amit Singhal and principal engineer Matt Cutts.Google is clearly looking to crack down on &quot;content farms,&quot; sites that purposely tailor their pages with content that often makes little to no sense but is loaded with keywords and other information designed solely to generate a huge number of hits.How does Google figure out which sites are high-quality and which ones aren't, especially since that sort of determination can be subjectiveSinghal and Cutts explained in general terms that sites with original information, such as research, in-depth reports, and thoughtful analysis would be looked upon more favorably, while those that offer low value-add, that copy content, or &quot;that are just not very useful&quot; would be in the doghouse. And the criteria used to make this determination are part of the new algorithm.A spokesman for Google told CNET today that the company can't share the specifics of how the algorithm works because &quot;we don't want to give bad actors a way to game our algorithms and worsen the experience for our users.&quot; The company said that the new rankings won't rely on feedback obtained from its Personal Blocklist, a new Chrome extension that tracks which Web sites are blocked by users and then sends those results to Google. But the company said it did compare the information from the Blocklist with the sites caught by the new algorithm and found that many of them popped up in both places. Specifically, 84 percent of the top dozen domains flagged via the extension have also been caught by the tweaked algorithm.For now, Google has deployed these changes only in the U.S. but plans to roll them out in other countries over time. The company is also promising further updates that it thinks can further improve its search results.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Timeline: A look back at Kinect's history]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=timeline-a-look-back-at-kinects-history</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=timeline-a-look-back-at-kinects-history</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>laziparac</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=timeline-a-look-back-at-kinects-history</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Kinect.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Kinect has turned out to be a big success for Microsoft, and Monday's news that the company is planning to officially bring the technology to Windows users marks an important step in Kinect's progress as a platform for new types of software and gesture-based user interfaces. That said, if you take a look back, it's not like we didn't see this coming.Even so, Kinect has turned out to be more successful than Microsoft originally imagined, with sales that dramatically beat estimates. It's also helped reform the image of the software giant from a company that's overly protective of its creations to one that's paying attention to what people do with a product once it's been launched--even if those uses fall outside the original intent. Now's as good a time as any to take a look back at how the Kinect journey has played out, from scattered rumors of Microsoft developing aWii remote competitor, all the way to the motion-controlled camera sensor that's gone on to make an immediate impact on Microsoft's bottom line.Follow along to see how the product went from rumors to reality, and to check out several milestones on that route.Rumors and speculationA mock-up of a motion controller Microsoft had reportedly been developing. (Credit:MTV )5/30/2007: Onstage at the D5 conference with Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates discusses a camera-based control method for games, where people can use real-world objects like baseball bats and tennis rackets to control what's happening on-screen. Little did we know Gates was talking about what would become the Kinect.4/7/2008: After nearly a year of quiet on the rumor front, MTV News reports that Microsoft is hard at work on a motion controller of its own to combat Nintendo's Wii. That report points to Microsoft subsidiary Rare developing actual handheld hardware, but being unable to meet development deadlines. A few days later, reports surface of the technology making use of a gyroscope and sensor bar. 7/2/2008: Ahead of the announcement of the big redesign for the originalXbox 360 dashboard (which would surface some two months later), reports circulate that Microsoft has rebuilt the Xbox 360's interface to work with a motion-control device.5/1/2009: After nearly another year of quiet in the rumor realm, Engadget reports that Microsoft is at work on a &quot;sensor bar&quot; that detects full body movement, as well as sound. 5/12/2009: The Wall Street Journal follows up shortly thereafter, saying Microsoft plans to unveil a new video camera that would let users control games with the surface of their bodies. Little is known about timing except that the product could be announced at E3 the following month.Announcement and prerelease6/1/2009:Microsoft announces &quot;Project Natal&quot; at its annual E3 press conference. The company provides the first demos of the technology in action, including controlling the Xbox 360 dashboard and playing Riccochet--what would eventually become the Rally Ball minigame included in Kinect Adventures. Microsoft also shows off a virtual-painting app. Along with the presentation, Microsoft says it's sending out Project Natal development kits to select developers to get them started on making games that will be ready in time for when the hardware add-on finally ships to customers.Microsoft unveils Project Natal at its E3 2009 press conference.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)7/14/2009: In an interview with CNET, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says Natal's gesture-based controls will eventually be able to work with PCs. 9/24/2009: Microsoft provides more detail on who is actually making games for Natal, saying nearly all of the major game-publishing houses are working on titles. That list includes Activision, Capcom, Disney, EA, Konami, MTV, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ, and Ubisoft Entertainment.1/6/2010: During Microsoft'sCES keynote presentation, now retired Microsoft executive Robbie Bach says Natal will arrive in time for the 2010 holiday shopping season, though he stays mum on pricing information and the size of the launch lineup.5/26/2010: Rumors crop up about a $150 price tag for Natal, as well as about news that the technology will be available as a standalone add-on, in addition to being bundled with new systems--all details that later turn out to be true. The Kinect-specific port in the latest version of the Xbox 360 hardware.(Credit:CBS Interactive) 6/13/2010: During a pre-E3 press conference featuring dangling Cirque du Soleil performers, Microsoft announces that Project Natal now goes by the name of Kinect. The next day the company details a revision of the Xbox 360 hardware that adds a special plug for the Kinect controller. The connection provides power without the need for an AC adapter, like the old units needed, and also enables the sending of information.  7/20/2010: Microsoft gives Kinect a price and release date. The company says it will launch Kinect on November 4, 2010, with a price of $149.99. The company also says it will bundle the Kinect with a 4GB Xbox 360 console for $299.99. 9/16/2010: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the president of Microsoft's interactive-entertainment business, Don Mattrick, says the company expects to sell more than 3 million Kinect devices by the end of the year.10/18/2010: Microsoft says it will have 17 titles available in time for Kinect's launch. 11/3/2010: A day ahead of launch, Microsoft bumps up its sales forecast to 5 million Kinect units by the end of the year. Launch and success 11/4/2010: Microsoft launches Kinect in North America. Almost immediately, Adafruit Industries offers a $1,000 bounty to the first person who can figure out how to build an open-source driver for it.  Microsoft responds, telling CNET it does not condone modification of its products, and that the hardware has built-in hardware and software safeguards to keep such customizations from happening. Microsoft also pledges to &quot;work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.&quot; Adafruit bumps the reward money up to $2,000 as a result. 11/10/2010: A hacker named Hector wins Adafruit's now-$3,000 contest for creating an open-source driver for Kinect. Microsoft launches Kinect in Europe. A Mac OS X implementation of Kinect called OfxKinect is demonstrated by Vimeo user Memo Akten. (Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) 11/15/2010: Kinect hits the 1 million units sold mark less than two weeks after its North American launch. Independent developers and tinkerers continue to have at the system, creating all sorts of applications that make use of its camera system. 11/18/2010: Kinect is launched in Australia. 11/19/2010: Microsoft representatives appearing on National Public Radio's &quot;Science Friday&quot; show reverse course from comments made earlier in the month, and say Kinect had been left open by design and that the company found some of the pet projects designed by enthusiasts to be inspiring.  11/20/2010: Kinect is launched in Japan. 11/29/2010: Microsoft updates sales numbers, says it has sold 2.5 million Kinect units in the 25 days since launch. 1/5/2011: During the company's annual CES keynote address, CEO Steve Ballmer surprises press and analysts, saying Microsoft has sold 8 million Kinect units since launch--3 million more than its original estimates. 1/7/2011: In an interview with the BBC, Ballmer says the company does indeed plan to bring Kinect support to Windows, but that it will be done &quot;in a formal way, in the right time.&quot;  1/19/2011: Citing sources familiar with the matter, a report on WinRumors suggests Microsoft is preparing drivers and an official SDK for Kinect to work with Windows. Squaring off against Kinect opponents with your Windows Phone 7 device, from the couch.(Credit:Microsoft) 2/14/2011: At Mobile World Congress, Microsoft says it will be bringing Kinect functionality to its Windows Phone 7 platform at some point in the future. Users will be able to use their phones to control basic movements in Kinect games, alongside user motion. Microsoft tells CNET that the feature is not set to arrive in 2011. 2/21/2011: Microsoft announces plans to release a software development kit for Kinect on Windows machines sometime in the spring, with a formal commercial release of the SDK to follow.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Road Trip Pic of the Week, 2/10: What is this]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-210-what-is-this</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-210-what-is-this</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>breannavfd3</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-210-what-is-this</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you know what this is and where this photograph was taken, you could win a prize in the Picture of the Week challenge.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)That's a lot of lights for one building, isn't it But what building is that, and where is it locatedIf you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge.If you have the answer, please e-mail it to me no later than 6 p.m. PT Friday (to daniel--dot--terdiman--at--cnet--dot--com, and PLEASE include &quot;Picture of the Week&quot; in the subject line). I'll choose a winner at random from among everyone who sends in the correct answer by the deadline. Please forgive me if you don't hear from me if you're not a winner. I get dozens of responses for each challenge. Also, I've turned off comments because some people would post the correct answers there. I hate to shut down discussion, but I want you to figure out the answer on your own.One caveat: no individual can win more than two prizes. However, now that it's 2011, I'm resetting the tally, and past two-time winners are eligible again. The Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge takes place each Thursday, and the photos could come from anywhere, not just Road Trip 2010 locations. Plus, they might be related to stories I've written in the past. So, please have fun playing today, and then come back each Thursday. For most of last summer, Geek Gestalt was on Road Trip 2010. After driving more than 18,000 miles in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, and the Southeast over the last four years, I drove 5,266 miles this summer looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation, and more throughout the American Northeast. You can follow me on Twitter at @GreeterDan and @RoadTrip and find the project on Facebook. And look for Road Trip 2011, which will be heading to Europe, coming this summer.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Shoot! Camera excised from back of prof's head]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=shoot-camera-excised-from-back-of-profs-head</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=shoot-camera-excised-from-back-of-profs-head</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>minwansirnhybgtcdkilo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=shoot-camera-excised-from-back-of-profs-head</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A body modification artist in a Los Angeles tattoo shop installed the camera system in Bilal's head. (Credit:Brad Farwell)Professor Wafaa Bilal hasn't been feeling so well lately. And it's no wonder. His body hasn't been entirely accommodating of the camera he had implanted in the back of his head to take photos of what's going on behind his back.  So, for now at least, he's had part of it surgically removed.  That might be a relief to those who found themselves walking behind the NYU arts professor/cyborg and staring disconcerted at a strange round contraption jutting out from his skull.  Bilal had the shooter installed last year as part of a project called &quot;3rd I.&quot; For the past couple of months, it has spontaneously captured images at a rate of one per minute, wirelessly transmitting them via laptop to a Web site for public viewing, as well as to monitors in an installation at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar.  But according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Bilal's body rejected part of the camera's apparatus, one of three posts between his skin and skull that held the digital camera in place.  Antibiotics and steroids didn't ease the discomfort, the Chronicle reported, so last week Bilal had to resort to surgery to remove part of the system that had been put in place by a Los Angeles body modification artist.  He does not, however, view the lens-ectomy as the end of the 3rd I project, which he describes as an attempt to objectively (without the direction of hands and eyes) document his life. Once his wound heals, he may try implanting a different, more skull-friendly cam, but for now, he'll just tie the camera to the back of his neck. The 3rd I headcam, the Iraqi-born professor says in an artist's statement, &quot;arises from a need to objectively capture my past as it slips behind me from a non-confrontational point of view.&quot; He says he is left with only ephemeral memories of his journey from Iraq to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the U.S., and wishes he could have better recorded his experiences.  This isn't Bilal's first provocative fusion of technology and the arts, however. In 2007, he mounted a video installation called &quot;Domestic Tension&quot; that invited the public to log on to WafaaBilal.com to splatter the artist with paint using arrow icons to maneuver a remote-control paintgun. The Iraqi-born artist said he viewed the constant assaults as a metaphor for the danger and confinement his family and others face back home. An image captured by Bilal's implanted headcam. The artist says he wants to objectively document his daily life.(Credit:Wafaa Bilal&amp;39's head, via 3rdi.me)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Angry Birds adapts to Super Bowl, fragmentation]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-adapts-to-super-bowl-fragmentation</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-adapts-to-super-bowl-fragmentation</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Feb 2011 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>winstonddd</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-adapts-to-super-bowl-fragmentation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rovio Mobile&amp;39's Angry Birds for Android is getting an in-app payment mechanism.(Credit:Rovio Mobile)Angry Birds developer Rovio Mobile has released a new version of its popular game that comes with a Super Bowl tie-in and tackles the thorny issue of Android fragmentation.Version 1.5.1 of the bird-flinging game for Google Android and Apple iOS devices apparently comes with an element to promote an upcoming &quot;Rio&quot; version of the game due to arrive in March. &quot;Watch the Super Bowl XLV, and keep your eyes peeled during the fourth quarter: spot the Rio commercial and you might see a little something to find something special in Angry Birds,&quot; Rovio said in a blog post today.On a more routine note, the new version comes with 30 more levels of pig constructions to demolish. And deeper down, the new version comes with two other changes.Rovio and Google take on fragmentation First, according to the release notes on the Android Market is a &quot;graphics toggle for lower-end devices.&quot; This fulfills the promise Rovio Mobile made when it discovered its earlier Angry Birds didn't work well on lower-end Android devices.Android fragmentation takes several forms: differing processor power, screen size and performance, operating system version, memory size, keyboard type, and button placement. Google is trying to smooth over some of the issues with a new interface, called the fragment of all things, set to debut in Android 3.0 &quot;Honeycomb.&quot;Apple has minimized resolution complications by exactly doubling the number of pixels in each dimension of theiPhone 4's screen, a move that makes some simple doubling math work to ease compatibility. Android devices use a much broader variety of screen sizes, though, even before the new generation oftablets arrive, and Google has sought to build a more flexible user interface foundation that automatically adapts elements such as menu options to screen sizes.The fragment element goes farther, though, according to a blog post last week by Dianne Hackborn, aGoogle Android programmer. Evidently willing to face the issue head on, she remarked, &quot;Fragmentation for all!&quot;&quot;For developers starting work on tablet-oriented applications designed for Android 3.0, the new Fragment API is useful for many design situations that arise from the larger screen. Reasonable use of fragments should also make it easier to adjust the resulting application's UI to new devices in the future as needed--for phones, TVs, or wherever Android appears,&quot; Hackborn said.Google is working on backporting the feature from Honeycomb to earlier versions of Android, trying to reach back as far back as 1.6, she added. That would mean--assuming mobile phone makers and operators actually released the updates for these older phones--that programmers might have somewhat less of a fragmentation problem to worry about.In-app operator-based purchasingSecond, the new version has an in-app purchase system on Android devices that bypasses the Android Market and uses operator billing via SMS instead. Operator billing is convenient for the many parts of the world where credit cards are not commonplace.&quot;We are bringing Angry Birds players on Android the option of purchasing the Mighty Eagle and other cool new content in the future using our brand new payment system, Bad Piggy Bank,&quot; Rovio said. &quot;Bad Piggy Bank purchases will be paid through operator billing. No credit card is required, you simply select the content you want to purchase in the game, and select the Bad Piggy Bank icon. You confirm your purchase, the payment is made via SMS, and you will be charged in your phone bill.&quot;The move triggered concern among some would-be fans.&quot;Beware of a game that all of a sudden wants access to your SMS and MMS service. No thanks. Game is good, but not that good. Won't update til fixed!!&quot; wrote Android Market commenter AJB. Rovio had this assurance in its blog post: &quot;Angry Birds does not use the SMS functionality of the device for any other purpose than Bad Piggy Bank payments.&quot; But that didn't mollify some.&quot;Sorry. You roll out the functionality and only offer explanation after the uproar. Now I don't trust you. Period. A 'we only use SMS for...' statement on your blog is not a legally binding commitment,&quot; said Stacy Wisegarver in a comment on Rovio's blog. &quot;You're off my phone.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Backupify is more than a backup service]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backupify-is-more-than-a-backup-service</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backupify-is-more-than-a-backup-service</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rockyraj52</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backupify-is-more-than-a-backup-service</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mirco Wilhelm, the poor guy whose Flickr account was mistakenly wiped out, along with the 4,000 photos, comments, and working hyperlinks in it, could have saved himself some amount of heartache had he signed up for Backupify, a handy utility that backs up social and cloud-based services to ensure against just this type of thing. Backupify is much more than backup, though--more on that in a second.  Wilhelm got lucky. A day after the error at the Yahoo photo-sharing site that led to the deletion of his account, Flickr figured out how to restore his data. The story ended happily, and has the advantage of serving as a reminder to all of us that the &quot;cloud&quot; can leak. Our data on a Google, Yahoo, or other online services might be safer than it is on a hard drive in our home, but it's not absolutely safe. It pays to keep backups, and that's just what Backupify does. The Wilhelm incident was also served as priceless advertising for Backupify. Backupify supports several social and cloud-based services. LinkedIn support will be announced next week.(Credit:Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET) Most cloud data problems are user error, Backupify CEO Rob May tells me. With his service, you can undo your own errors. Or, as in the Wilhelm case, your provider's. Services supported include Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Google Docs, and several others. Support for LinkedIn will be announced next week.  Backupify is easy to use: Point it at your online accounts, authorize it to access them, and then periodically, Backupify goes in, slurps your data out, and stores it on its own cloud servers. Yes, it backs up the cloud into another cloud. The option to back up to your own hardware is coming later, possibly via Dropbox sync, which would be pretty cool.  Restoring deleted data, though, is another kettle of fish. For some services, like Google Docs, it's easy to pump Backupify archives back into the service, either to un-delete an erroneously erased file, or to transfer information in bulk from one account to another. But in other cases, restore doesn't work quite so cleanly. You cannot restore a Twitter account, for example, since the Twitter API doesn't provide a way to push a status update into the Twitter system with anything but the current date and time. A restored Twitter account would have all your tweets looking like they were posted milliseconds apart. But you do get a usable, potentially searchable archive of your Twitter activity, which you will eventually be able to scan with other apps. Currently, you can ask the service to send you a PDF of everything that Backupify can grab. Beyond backupIt is the searchability of the Backupify service, and its capability to put multiple cloud and social databases together in one place for users, that the company is pegging its future on.  In the business world, Backupify can be used for legal compliance, as an archiving service for companies that need to keep records of what employees do during work time or on company-sponsored accounts. Likewise, Backupify can be used in discovery' it's easier (and more complete) to search through Backupify archives than to try to coordinate research into several different services, some of which may not keep perpetual, easily searchable archives. (I'm looking at you, Twitter.) The service archives all your Twitter activity, and can send you a PDF &amp;34'book&amp;34' of it on request.(Credit:Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET) But more interesting is the potential to use Backupify in daily production, as way to see, perhaps, all the interactions you've had with a person on all of the social networks and cloud storage systems you've used. Xobni, which scans Facebook, LinkedIn, and other services whenever you open an e-mail from a person, does a limited version of this. This search and analytics capability can keep Backupify relevant even if, as Facebook has done, the social services add their own backup or export features.  In other words, Backupify could give users a much deeper and useful view into their &quot;social graph&quot; than any one service can provide. Backupify may do that itself, or, when it eventually launches its own API, other companies could draw out the utility meaning from its data stores.  Backupify is poorly named. Nobody gets excited about backup. But the capability to mine your own network of people and ideas, or to use that kind of information for sales or marketing -- that's a service with day-to-day value. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kindle forces budget e-reader price chops]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kindle-forces-budget-e-reader-price-chops</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kindle-forces-budget-e-reader-price-chops</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>StephTanner</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kindle-forces-budget-e-reader-price-chops</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sony has trimmed $50 off the list price of the PRS-350 Pocket Edition, making it a more tempting purchase. (Credit:Sony)When it comes to e-readers these days, most of the action here in the U.S. seems to be concentrated around the Kindle, Nook, andiPad. But every week or so, we'll notice a traffic spike on CNET for an e-reader that isn't from Amazon or Barnes &amp; Noble. Inevitably, this is due to a special discount that some store is running on the product or perhaps even an appearance in a Best Buy circular. That discount price is usually pretty attractive--and has to be--to compete with the Kindle with Wi-Fi at $139 and the Nook Wi-Fi at $149. But even at $99, we'd have a hard time recommending these products. Here's a quick look at some of the &quot;deals&quot; we've seen out there. Borders Kobo Wireless eReader: Recently, Borders was offering the Kobo Wireless eReader, which carries a list price of $139.99, for $99.99. It's back up to $139.99. This e-ink e-reader, which features an attractive enough design and wireless connectivity, is an OK product, but at $139.99 it's simply not viable. At $99.99, it's a tad tempting (it does offer support for lending from your local libraries), but it's still worth spending the extra $40 on the Kindle, which has a better screen and performance, along with a superior e-bookstore.Velocity Micro Cruz Reader: The Cruz Reader is an Android-basedtablet with a resistive touch screen. Some retailers have it for $119, but we've seen it advertised for as low as $99. While it offers decent functionality, its biggest problem is the resistive touch display, which doesn't operate nearly as smoothly as today's capacitive touch screens found on the iPad, Nook Color, and Samsung Galaxy Tab. Sure, those products cost a lot more, but the user experience is much better.Sony PRS-350SC Pocket Reader: Sony started the PRS-350SC out at $179.99 but the price has now dropped to $129.99. If you want a compact e-reader (the screen is 5 inches compared with the Kindle's 6-inch screen) and can live without the Wi-Fi connectivity, the PRS-350SC merits some consideration. It's a decent little e-reader that supports the EPUB format and allows you to check out e-books from your local library. Still, the Kindle looms large for only 10 bucks more.Sharper Image Literati (white): Bed Bath &amp; Beyond has the Literati on &quot;clearance&quot; sale for $99. It has a color LCD, Wi-Fi connectivity, and integration with the Kobo eBook store. The best thing we can say about it is that it's not terrible and comes with a protective case. We still think it's worth spending the extra $40 on the Kindle.Pandigital Novel (black): The Pandigital Novel, an Android-based tablet with a 7-inch resistive touch screen, got off to a bad start because it was rushed to market and had buggy software along with sluggish performance. Pandigital has since made some improvements, but it's still a tough sell at around $150 (we've seen it for less, but not in recent days). While it offers good functionality, the overall experience, like the Cruz Reader, makes you feel like you're using last year's technology. That may be OK for some but we've heard the Novel has seen high return rates (note: it comes in black and white versions that offer slightly different specs).If you have differing views on these products and other budget e-readers we might have missed, feel free to comment below. We hope that later this year we'll see a compelling e-reader for $99, but for now, the Kindle and Nook--even with their higher prices--remain better choices for budget-conscious consumers.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Trio of new HTC phones uncovered ahead of MWC]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trio-of-new-htc-phones-uncovered-ahead-of-mwc</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trio-of-new-htc-phones-uncovered-ahead-of-mwc</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Crissy6d6</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trio-of-new-htc-phones-uncovered-ahead-of-mwc</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Will HTC announce an Android phone without buttons at Mobile World Congress(Credit:PocketNow)The first images of HTC's next handsets have made their way online ahead of next month's Mobile World Congress. Various leaks obtained by PocketNow reveal slightly varied takes on current Android designs. One image, which could be of the flagship model, closely resembles the Desire HD unveiled last September. A front-facing camera sits above what appears to be a screen measuring 4 inches diagonally. A second, more compact, device features a traditional trackball and a 3.2-inch screen. The top right corner has what could be construed as a front-facing camera or ambient light sensor. Bearing a striking resemblance to last year's Nexus One, this miniature phone could be a possible successor to the Wildfire. If there is anything remarkable about the third phone, it's that it doesn't feature any buttons. Shown in both HTC and Verizon branding, there is little else known about the device at this point except that the lack of buttons could mean that Android 3.0 is onboard. While Honeycomb may usher in an era of buttonlesstablets like the Motorola Xoom, I can't imagine phones running this new version of Android just yet. Then again, companies have to do something to stay fresh, rightAlthough any of these could be based on HTC's Brew platform (Smart), the general consensus among Android blogs is that they will run the Google platform. The buttons across the bottom of the two models align with those on previously released Android smart phones. Assuming these are real devices, I'd look for them to arrive in the wild at some point over the next few weeks. If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years it's that new Android phones love to steal the spotlight. With less than a month to go before Mobile World Congress, I'd be willing to bet that these are actual phones being readied for an announcement.Maybe it's just me, but I was hoping for something a little sexier out of HTC. Given that we can't tell what these look like from other angles, I still find them somewhat uninspired. Don't get me wrong, I really love the feel of the Evo Shift 4G and the Thunderbolt. Perhaps the final products will be more in line with the stuff in my dreams.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Alt media player VLC cut from Apple App Store]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alt-media-player-vlc-cut-from-apple-app-store</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alt-media-player-vlc-cut-from-apple-app-store</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tduncannac</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=alt-media-player-vlc-cut-from-apple-app-store</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Popular media player VLC has been pulled from Apple's App Store at the request of one of the program's original developers--in a move that's caused some hard feelings in the world of open-source software.The situation involves a conflict between the General Public License, which governs VLC and many other open-source programs, and App Store policies.&quot;On January 7th, Apple removed VLC media player from its application store for iDevices,&quot; Remi Denis-Courmont, one of the developers of the desktop version of VLC, wrote in a blog post picked up by the Web site of the nonprofit group behind the original software. &quot;Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the App Store terms of use is resolved--the hard way. This end should not have come as a surprise to anyone, given the precedents.&quot;Denis-Courmont himself was the one who sent Apple a notification of copyright infringement involving distribution of VLC for Apple's iOS operating system, i.e., for theiPhone,iPad, andiPod Touch. The GPL lets people freely copy, distribute, and modify GPL programs provided the resulting programs are also covered by the GPL and this same provision. But digital rights management applied to programs in the App Store prevents sharing.Denis-Courmont and others see that clash as a threat to the heart of the GPL, but Romain Goyet, co-founder of the company that created the iOS version of VLC, disagrees.&quot;The way I see it, we're not violating anyone's freedom,&quot; Romain Goyet told Ars Technica. &quot;We worked for free, opened all our source code, and the app is available for free for anyone to download. People are enjoying a nice free and open-source video player on the App Store, and some people are trying to ruin it in the name of 'freedom.'&quot;VLC for the Mac, which, unlike Apple's QuickTime, plays almost all common media files, was the second most popular Mac-software download during 2010 on CNET's Download.com. And VLC for the iPad and for the iPhone captured the notice of CNET's Rick Broida because they let users play virtually all video formats, with no conversion required, leading Broida to label VLC a &quot;must-have&quot; app.For more on the VLC app getting yanked, check out &quot;No GPL Apps for Apple's App Store&quot; at CNET sister site ZDNet. And if you happen to be a developer of App Store apps, you might want to take a look at ZDNet's &quot;How to avoid modern day public GPL floggings, part deux.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: JVC launches prosumer HD 3D camcorder]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-jvc-launches-prosumer-hd-3d-camcorder</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-jvc-launches-prosumer-hd-3d-camcorder</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ammieamaaa</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-jvc-launches-prosumer-hd-3d-camcorder</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:JVC America)LAS VEGAS--It was a bit unfortunate for JVC that its &quot;world's first consumer camcorder to offer 3D recording in Full HD&quot; came the day after Sony's announcement of its consumer full HD 3D camcorder, the HDR-TD10' it's even similarly named to JVC's offering, the Everio GS-TD1.Like Sony's offering, the JVC model has two of everything that counts: a pair of 3-megapixel BSI CMOS sensors and two f1.2 lenses (5x zoom in 3D, 10x in 2D). It only has a single processing engine--unattractively dubbed &quot;Falconbrid&quot;--but that's just marketing. A single engine can handle the bandwidth if it's designed correctly.Of course, the AVCHD specification doesn't support a full-HD 3D stream, only half-width side-by-side 3D, so JVC has developed a proprietary format it calls &quot;LR Independent format,&quot; with a maximum bitrate of 34 megabits per second.The TD1 also has some other 3D-oriented features, including 3D sound, &quot;Optical Axis Automatic Stabilization System for disparity control to give depth to 3D images&quot; (I have no clue what that is) and 3D still photos and time-lapse. It has a 3.5-inch glasses-free 3D touch panel and 64GB of built-in memory.It's slated to ship in March for $1,999.95.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: ThinkEco smart plug lays waste to wasted power]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-thinkeco-smart-plug-lays-waste-to-wasted-power</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-thinkeco-smart-plug-lays-waste-to-wasted-power</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>zilimwinlilouba</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-thinkeco-smart-plug-lays-waste-to-wasted-power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LAS VEGAS--Gear for smart, connected homes may give you consumers fine-grained control over home energy, but ThinkEco has got a light-weight approach to saving electricity.At the Consumer Electronics Shows here, ThinkEco said that a consumer version of its connected plug and software will be available this spring for $50. Additional plugs cost $44.95.ThinkEco's smart outlet cuts wasted power (photos) View the full galleryThe company's modlet--short for modern outlet--is a two-outlet plug that fits over ordinary plugs and is equipped with a Zigbee radio. Using a USB stick in a PC, the owner can then see the energy usage and control whatever's plugged into the modlet.From the software application, people can schedule an entertainment center, for example, to cut all stand-by power at a certain time. The application can also make recommendations on how to schedule turning things off based on usage.ThinkEco says customers see a six- to nine-month payback from the system by turning off plugged-in appliances that are on more often than they need to be, or that draw a constant trickle of stand-by or &quot;vampire&quot; power. Corporate customers have also found that just installing the modlets often leads to an inventory of their office equipment and to finding ways to improve efficiency, said Mei Shibata, the chief business officer at the New York City-based company.The company is working on a power strip, which it expects to be available this summer. This spring, ThinkEco also plans to release aniPhone application for viewing energy usage data and scheduling the plugs.The company announced yesterday that New York utility Con Edison will use the modlets for remotely controlling window air conditioning units as part of peak-time energy-saving programs.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Cisco, GE, Xerox share stage Friday at CES 2011 (live blog)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-cisco-ge-xerox-share-stage-friday-at-ces-2011-live-blog</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-cisco-ge-xerox-share-stage-friday-at-ces-2011-live-blog</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>hongchen</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-cisco-ge-xerox-share-stage-friday-at-ces-2011-live-blog</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Three companies that have been around the block a few times--Cisco, GE, and Xerox--will share the stage tomorrow morning atCES, and we'll be there for live coverage of their talks. The CEOs of the three companies--Cisco's John Chambers, GE's Jeffrey Immelt, and Xerox's Ursula Burns--will participate in a panel discussion on innovation, in what the Consumer Electronics Association called a &quot;first-of-its-kind&quot; approach to a CES keynote speech. We'll be around to provide live coverage and analysis of their talk, and all you have to do is sign up below to receive an e-mail reminder for the event, which will start bright and early at 9 a.m. PT Friday from the Hilton Theater in Las Vegas.Cisco/GE/Xerox CES 2011 live blog<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Diskeeper 2011 aims to instantly defrag hard disk]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-diskeeper-2011-aims-to-instantly-defrag-hard-disk</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-diskeeper-2011-aims-to-instantly-defrag-hard-disk</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>BestyMerryBMW</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-diskeeper-2011-aims-to-instantly-defrag-hard-disk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LAS VEGAS--In its quest to keep your hard drive fully defragmented, Diskeeper plans to release a new program aiming to both prevent and instantly clear up fragmentation.Being demoed at CES this week, Diskeeper 2011 will combine two features to handle disk fragmentation. First launched in Diskeeper 2010, IntelliWrite will stop up to 85 percent of most fragmentation before it happens by intelligently writing data to the disk, according to the company. And the new Instant Defrag will instantly and automatically defrag any remaining fragments, the company says.The company sees Instant Defrag as a way to ensure continued system performance and reliability by not waiting for fragmentation to seep in.Diskeeper 2011 is set to launch in the first quarter of 2011.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skype blames recent outage on buggy software]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>NikkiDelta</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Skype has pinned the blame for last week's outage in part on a buggy version of its software for Windows.In a blog posted today, Chief Information Officer Lars Rabbe explained the house of cards that took down the service the morning of Wednesday, December 22, and kept it offline for many until the following day.On December 22, a number of support servers that handle offline instant messaging became overloaded, according to Rabbe. Because of that, some Skype clients didn't receive responses as quickly as usual. A bug in one particular Skype client for Windows (version 5.0.0.152) prevented it from processing those delayed server responses, causing the client software to crash.Since Skype is a peer-to-peer network, any PC running the client software can act as a node to route and process traffic. But PCs can also be tapped to serve as supernodes, which help maintain connections for multiple users.Since about half of all Skype customers around the world were running the buggy client version, the resulting wave of crashes triggered failures in 25-30 percent of Skype's supernodes. That put extra strain on the rest of the supernodes, causing them to start failing. Despite the efforts of the tech folks at Skype to disable the overloaded servers and stop the client requests, the entire Skype network eventually shut down.&quot;Regrettably, as a result of the confluence of events--server overload, a bug in Skype for Windows clients (version 5.0.0.152), and the decline in available supernodes--Skype's functionality became unavailable to many of our users for approximately 24 hours,&quot; wrote Rabbe.To get the service up and running again, Skype engineers spent that Wednesday introducing more and more instances of the Skype client software (the non-buggy version) into the network to generate more and more supernodes. That helped the network gradually recover, allowing the majority of Skype users to get back online by Thursday.What is Skype doing to make sure an outage like this won't happen againFirst, Rabbe says the company had provided a fix (version 5.0.0.156) to the buggy software before the outage occurred, but many people hadn't yet installed it. As such, Skype will be reviewing its process for automatic updates. Second, the company will look into ways of detecting and recovering from such problems much faster. And third, it will evaluate its testing processes to better find and avoid bugs that could take down the entire system.Rabbe also acknowledged the company's failure to prevent the outage and its lack of communication when the service was down.&quot;Lessons will be learned and we will use this as an opportunity to identify and introduce areas of improvement to our software, further assess and invest in capacity and stability, and develop better processes for outage recovery and communications to our user base,&quot; Rabbe wrote in closing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[dSLR Christmas tree sure to capture Santa Claus]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dslr-christmas-tree-sure-to-capture-santa-claus</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dslr-christmas-tree-sure-to-capture-santa-claus</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>searchrounds</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dslr-christmas-tree-sure-to-capture-santa-claus</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Most Expensive Christmas Tree Ever from The Seventh Movement on Vimeo.Let's hope the Grinch doesn't steal their Christmas. Some guys from a camera equipment rental shop have fashioned an impressive Christmas tree out of cameras, lenses, and tripods. The time-lapse vid above shows folks from BorrowLenses.com whipping a tree together with Nikon and Canon dSLRs and some very serious telephoto lenses. They call it the most expensive Christmas tree ever--or at least the coolest (I think Rockefeller Center's 30,000-light tree topped with a Swarovski star might outdo the 15-odd cameras, but who's counting). Cheers to that. I hope they get a decent pic of Saint Nick tonight. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rinspeed builds a car of bamboo]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rinspeed-builds-a-car-of-bamboo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rinspeed-builds-a-car-of-bamboo</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>timberwindow</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rinspeed-builds-a-car-of-bamboo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The BamBoo uses bamboo fibers in the construction of some interior components.(Credit:Rinspeed)At next year's Geneva auto show, tuner and concept builder Rinspeed will show off an environmentally friendly concept car designed to evoke bronzed bodies soaking up the sun at St. Tropez. Although Rinspeed highlights bamboo in the car's name, only interior components are made from bamboo fibers, with a more conventional metal shell for the body.The BamBoo comes with a foldable two-wheel electric bike.(Credit:Rinspeed)In the past, Rinspeed has given us such wild concepts as the submersible sQuba and the iChange. In comparison, the BamBoo seems less ambitious, and even Rinspeed describes it as a &quot;grown-up golf cart.&quot; Bamboo has become a favorite material for green construction because it replenishes itself quickly.An electric powertrain propels thecar, although Rinspeed offers no specifications for it. The press release also mentions an included two-wheel electric vehicle for that last mile. Think parking the BamBoo, then scooting around the narrow streets of a European town.The 2011 Geneva auto show takes place from March 3 through March 13.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Newegg touts 27-inch monitors for Cyber Monday]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=newegg-touts-27-inch-monitors-for-cyber-monday</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=newegg-touts-27-inch-monitors-for-cyber-monday</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jupnoteroh2534</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=newegg-touts-27-inch-monitors-for-cyber-monday</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LG&amp;39's e2350V is worth even more than Newegg&amp;39's heavily discounted price.(Credit:Josh P. Miller/CNET)Last week, I posted news on Newegg's Black Friday monitor specials. Today, the online vendor coughed up a couple of impressive new monitor deals.As of this posting, only two are available at heavily discounted prices:MonitorWasIsHanns-G HZ281HPB 27.5-inch$270$180LG E2350V-SN 23-inch$270$180Get on it fast, however, if you want to take advantage. Of the two, I can personally vouch for the quality of the LG Flatron e2350V, which features LED backlighting. I've never seen the Hanns-G model personally, but, like with its Black Friday Hanns-G, Newegg is offering a very large monitor (27-inch) for less than $200. For some, this accounts for a lot, beyond even quality. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[SpaceX scores first FAA license for re-entry]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-scores-first-faa-license-for-re-entry</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-scores-first-faa-license-for-re-entry</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>enochkeonc</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-scores-first-faa-license-for-re-entry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX.(Credit:SpaceX)SpaceX has won the first-ever license from the Federal Aviation Administration allowing a private-sector spacecraft to re-enter Earth's atmosphere.The California company says that next month it plans to launch its unmanned Dragon spacecraft into Earth orbit, where it will be traveling at speeds of greater than 17,000 miles per hour. With the one-year FAA license in hand, SpaceX will also be able to bring the spacecraft back home a few hours later and have it splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered.The event will mark the first commercial launch paired with an officially sanctioned re-entry. The company said in its announcement yesterday that it will also be &quot;the first attempt by a commercial company to recover a spacecraft reentering from low-Earth orbit.&quot; It has only been performed by the U.S., Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency, SpaceX said.The unmanned SpaceX mission, set for December 7, is a precursor to coordinated NASA and SpaceX efforts to eventually provide commercial trips to the International Space Station with cargo and crew, according to the FAA. NASA's space shuttles, which have been performing that mission along with related flights by Russia spacecraft, are scheduled to go into retirement early next year.  &quot;NASA wishes SpaceX every success with the launch,&quot; NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement.The Dragon spacecraft will lift off atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. It will be the first flight under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, and SpaceX expects to make at least 12 flights to carry cargo to and from the ISS as part of a resupply services contract.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Taking an electric drive in the Volvo C30]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Geumdius</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Volvo C30 Drive Electric, plugged in between drives.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Volvo C30 Drive Electric (photos) The Los Angeles Auto Show maintains a green focus, with alternative drivetrains and electriccars dominating. So it is here that Volvo let us drive the electric version of its C30 model, known as the C30 Drive Electric.The car was waiting for us in a parking garage of the Los Angeles Convention Center, plugged in to an AC outlet through an extension cord. Volvo chose the C30 model for an electric drivetrain because it is the smallest and lightest car in the lineup, although by European standards this car is on the large side. It is an attractive design and offers the practicality of a hatchback. The cabin of the C30 Drive Electric showed the same premium quality we've come to expect from Volvo, with some rough bits hacked on for this electric version.CNET editor Wayne Cunningham drives the streets of LA in the electric Volvo C30.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Turning the key, we saw the instrument cluster light up and go through the same kind of boot process we've experienced in both the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. The charge level read nearly full, not bad for a car that had been taken out all day on drives around downtown Los Angeles.Our Volvo minder told us to push the drive mode lever, a curving piece of metal that fit easily into our palm, back one time, putting the car into Drive. Unlike a standard shift lever, this drive selector had no gate, always popping back to its center position. With the car in Drive we pushed the accelerator, and in typical electric car fashion it moved smoothly and quietly forward, the feeling of instantaneous torque obvious. Letting off the accelerator caused the car to slow a little more than accounted for by friction, as the car's generator used the car's motion to regenerate electricity for the batteries. Pressing the brakes did not increase regeneration, but merely engaged the friction brakes. We would expect that Volvo could cause the brake pedal to initially activate strong regeneration, to maximize battery recharge, before engaging the friction brakes.The drive selector returns to its center position after each push or pull.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)While in Drive mode, we pushed the lever back once more, which put the car into what Volvo calls sailing mode. Intended for freeway and highway driving, this mode decouples regeneration, so lifting off the accelerator lets the car coast freely.As we drove, we found opportunity to push the accelerator to the floor, but on city streets only getting up to about 45 mph. The acceleration held up well to that point, but felt like it would drop off as speed increased.Taking it around corners, the low and centrally located weight of the battery packs became evident, making for good stability. Volvo says that the C30 Drive Electric has a 57/43 percent weight split between front and back. Although no perfectly balanced sports car, this C30 felt fine in the turns.With its 24kWh Enerdel battery pack, the C30 Drive Electric has a range of 94 miles. As with most electric cars today, recharge time is measured in hours, with the car intended for urban commuting rather than long hauls.Volvo is currently building versions of the car for fleet use by utilities and government agencies in Europe, and it looking to bring a small test fleet to California. No date has been determined for mass production at this time.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[My own private memory hole]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=my-own-private-memory-hole</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=my-own-private-memory-hole</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>howtomakeawebsite</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=my-own-private-memory-hole</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes' bio below.In &quot;1984,&quot; George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, protagonist Winston Smith is a low-level bureaucrat in the Ministry of Truth. His job: to &quot;rectify&quot; old newspaper articles in which Big Brother's predictions or promises turned out to be false. Once the articles are rewritten, the original text--and the truth they represent--is dropped down a pneumatic tube known as a memory hole, &quot;to be devoured by the flames.&quot;The European Commission has recently proposed a real-life version of this fictional device, though this time with a twist. Twenty-five years after the events in Orwell's allegory took place, the Commission has announced plans to regulate what it calls an individual's &quot;right to be forgotten.&quot; The new memory hole would be under the control not of Big Brother but of individuals--of all the Winston Smiths of the world.But the citizens of Oceania--excuse me, the European Union--should be just as wary of this new approach to rewriting history. Erasing the truth is as dangerous as it is futile. And wrapping the effort in the flag of personal privacy only makes the effort appear naive or cynical. Or both.The right to be forgotten Under the new &quot;Comprehensive Approach on Personal Data Protection in the European Union&quot; (PDF), the Commission will undertake an extensive review of gaps in existing EU privacy law, proposing new legislation next year aimed at shoring up consumer rights and reducing conflicts in the privacy laws of EU member states.The report surprised many with plans for new laws aimed at &quot;clarifying the so-called 'right to be forgotten,'&quot; which the Commission awkwardly defines as &quot;the right of individuals to have their data no longer processed, and deleted when [the data] are no longer needed for legitimate purposes.&quot;There are, of course, legitimate privacy concerns associated with new technologies. But existing laws ensuring customer control over user-supplied data such as digital photos, tweets, or tax preparation files stored with an online service are very different than a right to be &quot;forgotten.&quot; For one thing, under the EU's landmark 1995 privacy directive, any information that refers to or identifies an individual is considered &quot;private&quot; data. So a right to be forgotten may give individuals the right to demand, as the Commission puts it, &quot;access, rectification, and deletion&quot; of any or all information that identifies the individual, regardless of how or by whom it was collected.The right to be forgotten may empower EU citizens to demand the suppression of any information that refers to them, including public records, newspaper reports, personal recollections, and other &quot;private&quot; information that wasn't supplied by the user in the first place. All of that information, under EU law, is &quot;their&quot; data.Information--private or otherwise--is not property Such a sweeping right could extend well beyond computer data. &quot;Clarifying&quot; the right to be forgotten could include the right to demand the destruction of paper records as well--even copies in the possession of other individuals.Taken to its logical extreme, a true right to be forgotten would prohibit me from repeating, even in conversation, any personal facts about you I happen to know. It might even require me to purge my mind of anything about you I remember--literally to forget you. Medical science doesn't currently support such a remedy, but that limitation hints at the bigger problem with empowering individuals to erase personal facts that have already entered the collective conscience of others. A right to be forgotten begins by assuming that privacy is a kind of hidden possession of the individual, one that the &quot;original&quot; owner can later reclaim, even if it's been lost, sold, traded, or stolen--indeed, even if the individual never had it in the first place.That's a fatal assumption. Information, personal or otherwise, is not property, at least not in the same way that a house, a barrel of oil, or a cup of coffee are property. It's not physical, something only one person at a time possesses, or which gets used up or worn out over time. Information is instead a virtual good, which can exist simultaneously in the minds of everyone. Laws can and do provide limited control over information use (fraud) or its translation into physical copies (copyright). But there's no practical way to enforce a ban on its existence. All the tapes and disks can be erased, the books burned, and the archives destroyed. But the information will still exist, at least for anyone who happens to remember ever knowing it. The costs and benefits of information exchange Even limiting a legal &quot;right to be forgotten&quot; to information supplied directly by the user could have a disastrous effect on digital life. That's because the Internet economy uses information, including personal information, as its main source of fuel. So when a user enters identifying information into an online ordering service, or uses a social network to exchange and store messages, photos, and videos, an economic exchange takes place, trading value for value. Amazon.com is cheaper than a physical retailer, in part because customers do their own data entry. Google, Facebook, and Twitter are all free because we let the companies' computers scan our interactions with others to offer personalized advertising. Other providers may use the information I enter to build databases of aggregated user behaviors, leading to better, more useful future products and services. Sometimes the individual is compensated, sometimes not. But once the omelet is made, the eggs can't be unscrambled. Releasing personal information into the world, in other words, may impose a cost on the individual, but the benefit to everyone else outweighs it. The sum is very often greater than the parts. If users have the right to be forgotten, what happens to service agreements and informal arrangements that trade information for value Does a user attempting to erase facts have to pay back the value they received If not, imagine what becomes of services that are subsidized, in whole or in part, on personal information. What value is there to facts that can be &quot;rectified&quot; at the whim of the individual Like it or not (realistically both), we are leading an increasingly visible existence. Our always-limited ability to compartmentalize our lives is fading. But the benefits of more easily and safely interacting with others that comes from that transparency more than compensates. That, in any case, is the delicate balance that a right to be forgotten challenges.Of course, the rising anxiety over privacy is understandable. Technology is rapidly changing the nature of human relationships, blurring the private-public line faster than many of us are comfortable with. Anxiety, predictably, leads to calls for legislative solutions. But here, as with so many disruptive technological advancements, the unintended consequences of regulating too soon could be fatal.This is not to say there is no room for improvement or no role for government. We can certainly do a better job of making clear the economics of information exchanges with our public, private, and individual interactions. Governments can provide mechanisms for enforcing agreements that limit the use or publication of that information for different purposes. But we can't turn back the clock. And we certainly can't rewrite history.This doesn't mean that the EU isn't going to try. But if the Commission really wants to protect its citizens from information tyranny, let's hope that it doesn't try. A memory hole is a bad idea, no matter who is using it.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google's Search app comes to Windows Phone 7]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Aragon</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</guid>
<description><![CDATA[While Microsoft and Google continue to be fierce tech rivals, Web search is just one of those areas where it pays (literally) to be on as many platforms as possible--even if it's the other guy's. That much can be seen with this morning's introduction of a Google Search application for Windows Phone 7. The app, which can be found in theWindows Phone 7 Marketplace by searching for &quot;Google Search,&quot; lets WP7 users use Google's mobile search. Like Microsoft's apps on iOS and Android, it taps into things like your phone's location to add geo-awareness to your Web searches, along with suggestions as you type.Missing from this version, although sure to be offered in a future update, is Google Instant, which made it to iOS and Android phones just last week. When that gets added, it will bring up result pages as users type. Windows Phone 7 hits stores in North America today, after a three week head start in Europe and Australia. Google&amp;39's search on Windows Phone 7. (Credit:Google)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[W3C seeks help, patience with HTML5 tests]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=w3c-seeks-help-patience-with-html5-tests</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=w3c-seeks-help-patience-with-html5-tests</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>valentaava</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=w3c-seeks-help-patience-with-html5-tests</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The World Wide Web Consortium is griping about this week's premature judgments regarding which browser best complies with the HTML5 standard and is asking for help to improve its tests.Philippe Le Hegaret, who oversees HTML5 and other standards at the W3C, today chastised those who concluded from tests done so far that Internet Explorer 9 is leading the race to support the new Web page technology. The W3C has added 135 new HTML5 compliance checks in the last month, bringing the total to 232, but that's nowhere near enough, he said.&quot;It seems that people are trying to draw conclusions from the tests or from the results, including whether one browser or another is better,&quot; Le Hegaret said in a blog post.Apparently they shouldn't be doing that yet. &quot;An increase of 135 tests isn't meaningful. It's way far from making the results significant in fact. We'll need several dozens of thousands of tests to make those results indicative,&quot; Le Hegaret said.Le Hegaret's remarks appear aimed at media reports that jumped on the idea that IE was leading the standards race after Microsoft pointed to the &quot;Official HTML5 Test Suite Conformance Results&quot; in an IEBlog post last week. It's a juicy idea, given how many years IE spurned Web standards, but browser standards experts bristled at conclusions being drawn from the limited set of tests.What Le Hegaret would rather see is more assistance in fleshing out the test suite. &quot;We need all the help we can get to make the test suite relevant and informative,&quot; Le Hegaret said. &quot;Unless the community starts helping W3C, we won't be able to properly test HTML5.&quot;Microsoft, eager to move to something more sophisticated than the Acid3 test that's been cited widely in recent years, has been helping with the testing effort. It's submitted 2,853 tests to the W3C so far, though many of those are for other Web standards besides HTML.Microsoft's active participation has indeed forced Web standards insiders to update their views on the company. The changes wrought by the new era were on display this week when Microsoft evidently ran out of IE Acid T-shirts to hand out at the W3C's Technical Plenary Advisory Committee meeting (TPAC) in France.&quot;Never imagined when [I] took this job that people at tpac would ask for IE shirts. Times change,&quot; Sylvain Galineau, a Microsoft program manager dealing with IE Web standards, tweeted today.Updated at 6:13 a.m. PDTto remove a Galineau tweet that wasn't in fact related to the W3C test situation.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Florida bans jurors from tweeting, blogging]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=florida-bans-jurors-from-tweeting-blogging</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=florida-bans-jurors-from-tweeting-blogging</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kiran01</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=florida-bans-jurors-from-tweeting-blogging</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Florida has officially banned jurors from tweeting.New jury instructions adopted by the Supreme Court of Florida, which judges will pass along to jurors, instruct them not to discuss the case through &quot;electronic communication, such as a blog, Twitter, e-mail, text message, or any other means.&quot;Tweeting (or Facebooking, or blogging) about cases has happened, of course. An Ohio man convicted of drunk driving unsuccessfully tried to get a new trial after a juror blogged about the case. A New Hampshire juror was caught calling criminal defendants &quot;riff-raff.&quot;A judge removed a juror after she reportedly posted on Facebook: &quot;Gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty.&quot; And a Georgia federal judge banned even spectators from sending live updates through Twitter from the courtroom.Here are some excerpts from Florida's new juror instructions released October 21: During deliberations, jurors must communicate about the case only with one another and only when all jurors are present in the jury room. You are not to communicate with any person outside the jury about this case. Until you have reached a verdict, you must not talk about this case in person or through the telephone, writing, or electronic communication, such as a blog, Twitter, e-mail, text message, or any other means. Do not contact anyone to assist you during deliberations. These communications rules apply until I discharge you at the end of the case. If you become aware of any violation of these instructions or any other instruction I have given in this case, you must tell me by giving a note to the bailiff.In reaching your decision, do not do any research on your own or as a group. Do not use dictionaries, the Internet, or any other reference materials. Do not investigate the case or conduct any experiments...Do not visit or view the scene of any event involved in this case or look at maps or pictures on the Internet. If you happen to pass by the scene, do not stop or investigate.Jurors must not have discussions of any sort with friends or family members about the case or the people and places involved. So, do not let even the closest family members make comments to you or ask questions about the trial. In this age of electronic communication, I want to stress again that just as you must not talk about this case face-to-face, you must not talk about this case by using an electronic device. You must not use phones, computers or other electronic devices to communicate. Do not send or accept any messages related to this case or your jury service. Do not discuss this case or ask for advice by any means at all, including posting information on an Internet website, chat room or blog. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Board game stimulates sustainable (re)thinking - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=board-game-stimulates-sustainable-rethinking---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=board-game-stimulates-sustainable-rethinking---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dakota01</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=board-game-stimulates-sustainable-rethinking---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Games have long been used as an educational tool, and not just for kids. Canadian Akoha, for example, encourages players to be more kind. Now, along similar lines, Play Rethink invites users to redesign everyday objects to make them more sustainable.Play Rethink (&quot;The Eco-Design Game&quot;) is an effort from London-based Rethink Games to help people thinka4&quot;or rethinka4&quot;how to make everyday objects and services more socially and environmentally friendly. Each game includes a multicoloured wheel and 98 drawing cards along with an eco-strategies key card and an instruction sheet with activities. With each spin of the wheel, players get a card asking them to rethink a particular everyday object, such as a chair or a vacuum cleaner. They then describe their idea for a more sustainable approach by drawing it on the card. Ideas players are particularly proud of can be uploaded onto the Play Rethink website, where others can rate, comment and be inspired by them. What''s more, each month Rethink Games selects one idea to serve as the project of the month, and it''s currently working on setting up partnerships with organizations that can help develop those ideas further. Play Rethink is sold online and through select London retailers. Pricing is GBP 24.95, with refill card packs available for GBP 5.95 each. Corporate workshops to help promote innovation are also available.Facilitating the idea generation process is all very good and well, of course' what will make this really interesting, however, is a way to turn the best ideas into reality. RedesignMe found a way to do that through partnerships with manufacturers, and it also took the critical step of paying the Generation C(ash) consumers whose ideas got used. Play Rethink may be a game, but it''s also another way to tap into the global brain. Who will help pave the way toward some real results (Related: iPhone game gets kids into the (hidden) park.)Website: www.playrethink.comContact: info@rethinkgames.comSpotted by: Estee Chaikin<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[WikiLeaks documents lay bare vast hacking attempts by Chinese leaders]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wikileaks-documents-lay-bare-vast-hacking-attempts-by-chinese-leaders</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wikileaks-documents-lay-bare-vast-hacking-attempts-by-chinese-leaders</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sypecease</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wikileaks-documents-lay-bare-vast-hacking-attempts-by-chinese-leaders</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The latest WikiLeaks documents unveiled by the New York Times show a vast attempt to hack sites such as Google, driven by the Chinese leadership.The tale begins with a secret State Department cable, obtained and leaked by WikiLeaks, that shows Li Changchun, a member of China&amp;'s top ruling body, the Politburo Standing Committee, becoming obsessed with Google&amp;'s search engine and its ability to get around China&amp;'s censorship. Li was shocked to discover that, when he Googled himself, he found results that criticized him. The cable, dated May 18, 2009, was one of many that showed how China&amp;'s leaders were afraid of the threat posed by the internet to their control of China.The Chinese leaders also saw how they could hack into computers in the U.S. to obtain secrets. The cables say that the Chinese used cyber hacking to obtain a wide array of American government and military data. They hacked, for instance, the computers of diplomats involved in climate change talks with China. The Secretary of State office had to send a warning not to respond to &amp;''spear phishing&amp;'' attacks aimed at agency officials during June, 2009.One cable alleged that Li himself directed an attack &amp;8212' or personally oversaw the campaign of attack &amp;8212' on Google&amp;'s servers. The cables also say that China&amp;'s coercion of Google to comply with censorship laws occurred over years before Google finally decided to pull out of China last spring. During the attacks, hackers obtained the email accounts of Chinese dissidents and got access to Google&amp;'s proprietary software code.The Chinese wanted to delete material not only on the Dalai Lama or the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. It also wanted Google to censor Google Earth satellite images that showed Chinese government facilities, out of fear terrorists could use them to plan attacks. One cable said that Liu Jieyi, an assistant minister of foreign affairs, warned the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that there would be a4Agrave consequencesa4 if terrorists exploited the imagery.The report also says that China&amp;'s State Council Information Office concluded in a report last spring that, thanks to the pressure on Google and other surveillance, &amp;''the web is fundamentally controllable.&amp;'' One previously unknown attack in 2008, code-named Byzantine Candor, yielded more than 50 megabytes of emails and a complete list of user names and passwords from an American government agency. Chinese hackers in Shanghai &amp;8212' linked to the People&amp;'s Liberation Army &amp;8212' used a document labeled &amp;''salary increase &amp;8212' survey and forecast&amp;'' to lure unsuspecting targets into clicking on some kind of malware.The New York Times said it was not clear how the attacks were coordinated, as many appeared to rely on &amp;''Chinese freelancers&amp;'' and &amp;''patriotic hackers&amp;'' with the support of civilian or military authorities. The attacks on Google evidently involved multiple government leaders, the cables said. Google tried to negotiate with China and get the U.S. government to intercede on its behalf. Google ultimately stopped complying with censorship requests and stopped offering a censored version of its search engine in China earlier this year. It finally struck a deal with the Chinese by offering an intermediate landing page that mollified the Chinese government.Those are some of the highlights of the story, which is quite chilling for entrepreneurs wanting to do any kind of technology business with China. For the rest of the story, click on this link.Next Story: Why Google needs the video digital-rights technology behind Netflix Previous Story: Is Silicon Valley in a new bubble (poll)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: censorship, ChinaCompanies: GooglePeople: Li Changchun          Tags: censorship, ChinaCompanies: GooglePeople: Li ChangchunDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple: No demo, trial, or beta software on Mac App Store]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-no-demo-trial-or-beta-software-on-mac-app-store</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-no-demo-trial-or-beta-software-on-mac-app-store</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ternusir342</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-no-demo-trial-or-beta-software-on-mac-app-store</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Unlike Apple&amp;'s iPhone App Store, developers won&amp;'t be able to submit trial versions of applications to the company&amp;'s upcoming Mac App Store.Beta and demo versions won&amp;'t be accepted either, Apple announced on its developer news site last night.&amp;''Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore,&amp;'' the company wrote. &amp;''The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps.&amp;''It&amp;'s a surprising move by Apple given how successful trial apps have been for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Trial versions allow users to test out new games or apps with no commitment to purchase. They also serve as a gateway to paid apps. While it&amp;'s not all that difficult for users to download the trial versions from a website instead, it seems like an odd choice for Apple to keep them off the Mac App Store entirely.The extra steps of going to a website, downloading the software, and installing it, could easily keep some users from experimenting with Mac desktop apps as they have with iPhone OS apps. It seems like a key element of the app store model &amp;8212' which offers consumers a one-stop location to find and purchase new apps. Leaving room for trial versions of apps seems like a given.Apple announced the Mac App Store in late October at its &amp;''Bring Back the Mac&amp;'' event. The store will be available on the upcoming Mac OS X &amp;''Lion&amp;'' update, and it will also be available on the current &amp;''Snow Leopard&amp;'' OS by the end of January.Via Apple InsiderNext Story: Groupon is Google&amp;'s $6 billion Facebook hedge Previous Story: Will the rise of natural gas threaten solar and wind T. Boone Pickens &amp;''might get his way&amp;''PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: App Store, apps, Lion, mac, Mac App Store, OS X, Snow LeopardCompanies: Apple          Tags: App Store, apps, Lion, mac, Mac App Store, OS X, Snow LeopardCompanies: AppleDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Minicomputer pioneer and DEC founder Ken Olsen dies at 84]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=minicomputer-pioneer-and-dec-founder-ken-olsen-dies-at-84</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=minicomputer-pioneer-and-dec-founder-ken-olsen-dies-at-84</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lamsadj0hn</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=minicomputer-pioneer-and-dec-founder-ken-olsen-dies-at-84</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Kenneth Olsen, who died at 84 on Sunday, was a natural disruptor in the early days of computing. At Digital Equipment Corp., Olsen&amp;'s minicomputers undercut the costs of IBM&amp;'s mainframe computers and carved out a role for smaller, less capable machines.But his own company fell victim to disruption itself as it failed to deal with the personal computer revolution, which undercut the minicomputer industry. Still, he will be remembered as a pioneer of the computer industry and as the leader of DEC, which he ran for 35 years. His company was one of the first tech firms to get venture capital.Olsen&amp;'s own career is an example of both daring insights and failed vision. At DEC, his company launched PDP minicomputers that a young Bill Gates trained on. Many of the facets of DEC&amp;'s VAX, Alpha chips and DECnet network technology became foundations for today&amp;'s information technology industry.DEC became a giant alongside IBM, with more than 125,000 employees at one point. But it lost its way in the PC era. In 1977, Olsen famously predicted that &amp;''there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.&amp;'' (He insisted the quote was taken out of context and he meant that he could not see a day when computers ran people&amp;'s lives). At the time, Apple was just getting started.But DEC&amp;'s huge infrastructure for building minicomputers did not serve it well in the low-cost PC era. The company was acquired by Compaq Computer, a spawn of the PC clone era, for $9.6 billion in 1998.DEC&amp;'s technology lives on. The company created high-performance, low-power StrongARM chips in a bid to beat Intel in low-power portable markets. Today, that&amp;'s a huge business for Marvell, which calls the chips XScale. Those chips are now the brains of a wide array of mobile devices such as eBook readers.Born in Bridgeport, Conn., he learned electronics in the Navy and then got engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded DEC in 1957 with Harlan Anderson, thanks to $70,000 in funding from American Research and Development, an early venture capital firm. Since Olsen, like IBM&amp;'s Thomas Watson, was a pioneer, almost every major decision he made had consequences for decades in the entire tech industry.Based in Maynard, Mass., DEC grew up in a state of constant combat with IBM. So it isn&amp;'t surprising that the company&amp;'s structure mirrored IBM&amp;'s. DEC made everything itself in the &amp;''vertically integrated&amp;'' business model. In a period of rapid change, (such as the introduction of Apple&amp;'s iPhone in the beginning of the smartphone era), the vertical integration model made a lot of sense. But at some point, the industry shifted to an emphasis on low costs and horizontal integration, where each company only handled a slice of the task.The divide between the vertical and horizontal companies was a geographic one. As Annalee Saxenian pointed out in the book Regional Advantage, DEC&amp;'s vertical structure spread to other companies in Boston&amp;'s Route 128 region. But in Silicon Valley, horizontal companies such as Intel took root. As the horizontal model triumphed, so did Silicon Valley. By contrast, Boston&amp;'s prominence in technology slipped away.IBM has adapted to the new horizontal era by shedding most of its hardware businesses and focusing on software, chips and services. Apple remains one of the few vertically integrated companies that is thriving.Dan Bricklin, co-creator of the original (VisiCalc) spreadsheet and DEC alumni, mourned Olsen with the tweet: &amp;''Ken Olsen is in the elite club of tech founders w/Gates &amp;amp' Jobs, and set the stage for them. What he did we take for granted today.&amp;''Olsen was inducted into the Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows in 1996 and got a National Medal of Technology in 1993.&amp;''An inventor, scientist, and entrepreneur, Ken Olsen is one of the true pioneers of the computing industry,&amp;'' said Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in a letter to Gordon College of Wenham, Mass., in 2008. Gates said that Olsen was a major influence in his life. Gates and Paul Allen used the DEC PDP-10 minicomputer to create the first version of their BASIC programming language, which became the foundation of Microsoft, which would eventually be part of the PC revolution that undercut DEC.Next Story: Facebook wants to &amp;''plant some roots&amp;'' in Menlo Park Previous Story: Microsoft&amp;'s Bing wrests search share from GooglePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Computer History Museum, minicomputerCompanies: Digital Equipment Corp, MarvellPeople: Bill Gates, Dan-Bricklin, Ken Olsen          Tags: Computer History Museum, minicomputerCompanies: Digital Equipment Corp, MarvellPeople: Bill Gates, Dan-Bricklin, Ken OlsenDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Intuit Collaboratory launches new challenge for mobile apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intuit-collaboratory-launches-new-challenge-for-mobile-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intuit-collaboratory-launches-new-challenge-for-mobile-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>msusonggog</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intuit-collaboratory-launches-new-challenge-for-mobile-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Intuit announced today that it is continuing efforts to reach out to startups and other partners with a new challenge through its Intuit Collaboratory program.The financial software company has been trying to boost its partnership and a4Aopen innovationa4 efforts in the past few years with programs like its annual Entrepreneur Day. It launched its a4ACollaboratorya4 website at the end of the last year, where companies and individuals can submit ideas that they want to work with Intuit on. In addition to accepting miscellaneous submissions, Intuit is trying to focus ideas with specific challenges.Its first challenge looked at scanning receipts with a mobile phone (Intuit has already released cool smartphone products like SnapTax), and Intuit just announced that the winner of that $5,000 prize is CloudSway. Now the Collaboratory has two new challenges, both with their own $5,000 prizes. In the first, it&amp;'s looking for iPad/tablet apps that help small businesses save time and/or money. In the second, ita4a4s looking for a product that allows consumers to make payments from their phone after scanning QR codes, say if those codes were printed on a bill.Susan Harman, who manages open innovation at Intuit and runs the Collaboratory, said shea4a4s not looking for a finished product. In the first challenge, a basic idea or design is probably enough, while in the second, applicants will need to submit a working prototype. In both cases, Intuit may work with the winner to license the technology and develop it into a commercial product, though Harman emphasized that therea4a4s no guarantee that will happen.You can read more details about the challenge at the Collaboratory website.Calling all mobile executives: This April 25-26, VentureBeat is hosting its inaugural VentureBeat Mobile Summit,  where we&amp;'ll debate the five key business and policy challenges facing  the mobile industry today. Participants will develop concrete,  actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry.  The invitation-only event, located at the scenic and relaxing Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, Calif., is limited to 180 mobile executives, investors and policymakers. We&amp;'ve pretty much finalized the invite list, but have a few spots left. Request an invitation.Next Story: Y Combinator&amp;'s best startups ever Here are my favorites Previous Story: Nuvixa cuts and pastes speakers into their own presentationsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Intuit collaboratoryCompanies: IntuitPeople: Susan Harman          Tags: Intuit collaboratoryCompanies: IntuitPeople: Susan HarmanAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Flyers get an early Christmas present from Google:a4sfree in-flight Wi-Fi]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=flyers-get-an-early-christmas-present-from-googleâ free-in-flight-wi-fi</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=flyers-get-an-early-christmas-present-from-googleâ free-in-flight-wi-fi</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Theoder</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=flyers-get-an-early-christmas-present-from-googleâ free-in-flight-wi-fi</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Search giant Google is once again giving flyers free in-flight Wi-Fi on Delta, AirTran and Virgin airlines for Christmas. The offer runs from November 20 through the beginning of next year.Google is partnering with GoGo, the in-flight Wi-Fi provider on U.S. airlines that&amp;'s part of Aircell, this year. Last year, Google only partnered with Virgin Airlines a4&quot; which operates a smaller number of flights compared to many other major airlines like Delta and AirTran.If you haven&amp;'t tried out in-flight, now&amp;'s probably a good time to start. Delta, the primary airline that runs GoGo, provides wireless that&amp;'s just about fast enough to stream online radio Pandora and browse the web, as well as chat with friends and others online. It isn&amp;'t quite fast enough to run online games like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty (I attempted both on a flight between New York and San Francisco).The partnership is good news for Aircell, which faces some heavy competition in the U.S. from in-flight Wi-Fi providers. Its competitors include Row44, Verizon Airfone and on Air. Aircell seems to be ahead of the pack in terms of funding, though a4&quot; it&amp;'s raised $176 million, compared to competitor Row44&amp;'s $58 million.In-flight wireless revenue could reach as much as $100 million this year, in no part due to the large number of providers and flyers craving the internet from 30,000 feet above the ground.Google gave out free internet access on Virgin airlines, as well as at a number of airports, last year and plastered the launch pages with Google Chrome advertising. It&amp;'s pretty likely that will happen again, as Google made a pitch for the browser in the blog post for its announcement today.Previous Story: On the GreenBeat: Coda CEO steps down, Fisker plans to raise up to $150 million before IPOPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: in-flight wifi, Wi-Fi, wirelessCompanies: Aircell, AirTran, Delta, Gogo, Google, On Air, Row44, Verizon, Virgin Airlines          Tags: in-flight wifi, Wi-Fi, wirelessCompanies: Aircell, AirTran, Delta, Gogo, Google, On Air, Row44, Verizon, Virgin AirlinesVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Zynga buys indie game developer Floodgate Entertainment]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-buys-indie-game-developer-floodgate-entertainment</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-buys-indie-game-developer-floodgate-entertainment</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Michle</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-buys-indie-game-developer-floodgate-entertainment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Zynga announced today that it has added another shiny object to its collection with the acquisition of the team at Floodgate Entertainment, an independent game developer in Waltham, Mass.The deal is Zynga&amp;'s tenth acquisition in 10 months, as the company uses the profits from its big social games on Facebook &amp;8212' such as FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars &amp;8212' to buy some of the most talented developers in the video game business.Zynga has been expanding geographically to get development teams in most areas where experienced talent is located. And it has also been expanding, both into international markets and into mobile games. Zynga reportedly had $850 million in revenues in 2010, from virtually nothing in 2007. Its expansion has been unprecedented. Zynga says it has &amp;''more than 1,500&amp;8243' employees but I hear it&amp;'s more than 1,700.Floodgate has a long history of making games in the casual, mobile and PC markets. The team will bolster the Zynga Boston team, with Floodgate founder Paul Neurath (pictured) joining as creative director. Neurath has more than two decades of experience in game development and previously founded Blue Sky Productions in 1990. That company became Looking Glass, another famous game maker, in 1992.Zynga&amp;'s other acquisitions are: XPD in Beijing, Challenge Games in Austin, Unoh Games in Tokyo, Conduit Labs in Boston, Dextrose AG in Frankfurt, Bonfire Studios in Dallas, Newtoy in McKinney, Texas' the Flock development team, and Area/Code in New York. With Floodgate, Zynga acquired the team, but not the company itself.Next Story: iPhone 5 rumors point to metal back and larger screen Previous Story: Meal review app Chewsy adds photos to share your food pornPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Floodgate, Zynga          Companies: Floodgate, ZyngaDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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