
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / Kareena / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Second explosion at Japanese nuclear plant]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=second-explosion-at-japanese-nuclear-plant</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=second-explosion-at-japanese-nuclear-plant</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=second-explosion-at-japanese-nuclear-plant</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Four of the Fukushima Daiichi plant&amp;39's six reactors are shown in this satellite photo from Geoeye via Google Earth. The reactors are the four tall buildings inland of the four longer buildings' the Pacific Ocean to the east is on the bottom of this photo. Reactors four, five, and six had been shut down before the earthquake and tsunami, but plant operators are struggling to cool down units one and three.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Buildup of hydrogen gas at a Japanese nuclear reactor caused an explosion today, but as with an earlier explosion Saturday, the reactor's containment vessel remains intact, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.The explosion took place at the unit 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi at 11:01 a.m. local Japan time, the United Nations agency said in a statement. And Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said in its own statement, &quot;The status of the plant and the impact of radioactive materials to the outside environment are presently under investigation.&quot;All personnel at the site are accounted for. Six people have been injured,&quot; the IAEA said. &quot;The reactor building exploded but the primary containment vessel was not damaged. The control room of unit 3 remains operational.&quot;It was the latest in a series of serious problems triggered by Friday's earthquake, now upgraded by the Japan Meteorological Agency to magnitude 9.0, and the resulting series of tsunamis that swept over Japan. The 170,000 residents living within 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of the Fukushima Daiichi plant have been evacuated, piling another major problem on top of thousands of deaths, extensive property damage, rolling power blackouts, a run on food and water in Tokyo, and economic troubles. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock-market index declined 6.2 percent today despite the Bank of Japan's emergency injection of billions of dollars into the economy.The nuclear reactors are drawing particular attention. Reactors work when the radioactive decay of uranium fuel pellets inside fuel rods heats water into steam. That steam drives turbines to generate electricity. However, to function, they rely on a constant supply of cool water in which they're immersed.To control the nuclear reaction and stop it in an emergency, control rods can be inserted between the fuel rods. Control rods absorb the neutrons produced by the uranium's radioactive decay, slowing the reaction because the absorbed neutrons don't trigger more radioactive decay in the chain reaction.If the fuel rods get too hot, for example if they can't be kept immersed or when the cooling system fails, the uranium can melt. This scenario, called a meltdown, covers a wide spectrum of severity. The extreme heat also can produce dangerous amounts of gas that must be vented into the air to prevent an explosion.At the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the regular power for the cooling system failed after the earthquake, after which diesel generators kicked in for backup system. Less than an hour after the earthquake, though, the tsunami arrived and the generators failed.At 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the first explosion occurred at unit 1 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant a few hours after workers began preparations to vent some gases. That explosion didn't damage the reactor's primary containment vessel, but it did damage the containment building outside it.As an emergency measure, plant operators have been pumping seawater into the unit 1 and unit 3 reactors to cool them.Meanwhile, workers are trying to safely cool down at another damaged nuclear energy complex, the Fukushima Daini plant, which has four reactors, the IAEA said. Its third unit is safely shut down and cooled. Workers got a cooling system working again at its first unit, which is cooling down. They're working to restore cooling systems at the plant's second and fourth units.The 30,000 people living within 10km of the Fukushima Daini plant have been evacuated, the IAEA said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Internet disruptions hit Egypt]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internet-disruptions-hit-egypt</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internet-disruptions-hit-egypt</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:11:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internet-disruptions-hit-egypt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CNN Cairo Correspondent Ben Wedeman reports of the outage first-hand on Twitter.(Credit:http://twitter.com/!/bencnn)Amid a third day of anti-government protests, Internet outages and disruptions occurred today in Egypt. Facebook and Twitter confirmed the disruptions for their sites. &quot;We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic from Egypt this morning,&quot; a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. &quot;You may want to visit Herdict.org, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet &amp; Society at Harvard University that offers insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility.&quot; According to Herdict.org, there were 459 inaccessible sites in Egypt and 621 accessible sites. Twitter's Global PR account reported on the site that: &quot;Egypt continues to block Twitter &amp; has greatly diminished traffic. However, some users are using apps/proxies to successfully tweet.&quot;  Meanwhile, there were numerous outages around the Web.  Danny O'Brien, San Francisco-based Internet Advocacy Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said to the North American Network Operators' Group (NANOG) e-mail list that the organization had lost all Internet connectivity with its contacts in Egypt and was hearing reports of loss of Internet connectivity on major broadband ISPs, SMS outage and loss of mobile service in major cities there.  &quot;The working assumption here is that the Egyptian government has made the decision to shut down all external, and perhaps internal electronic communication as a reaction to the ongoing protests in that country,&quot; he wrote. His post included a link to a Pastebin.com page where someone at a European-based Internet activist group has started an effort to provide alternative methods--such as shortwave and pirate radio--for protesters in Egypt to communicate with each other and the outside world. &quot;A major service provider for Egypt, Italy-based Seabone, reported early Friday that there was no Internet traffic going into or out of the country after 12:30 a.m. local time,&quot; the Associated Press noted. &quot;Associated Press reporters in Cairo were also experiencing outages.&quot;  The Los Angeles Times said BlackBerry users were not able to reach the Internet on their devices. RIM provided this statement when asked for comment: &quot;We can confirm that RIM has not implemented any changes that would impact service in Egypt and that RIM's BlackBerry Infrastructure has continued to be fully operational throughout the day. For questions regarding a specific network in Egypt, please contact the carrier who operates the network.  A Twitter post by Ben Wedeman, CNN senior correspondent in Cairo, around 3 p.m PDT says: &quot;No internet, no SMS, what is next Mobile phones and land lines So much for stability.&quot; The Arabist blog had mixed reports, with someone in Cairo saying Internet service was down while a foreign journalist was able to get onto the Internet Semiramis Intercontinental hotel.  Twitter representatives did not respond immediately to an e-mail request for more information. The Internet disruptions spurred activist action. Anonymous, the group that launched distributed denial-of-service attacks on Web sites of financial institutions and others opposing WikiLeaks last year, released a video online in which it threatened to launch DOS attacks on Egyptian government Web sites if the authorities did not curtail censorship efforts. Earlier today, five people were arrested in the U.K. in connection with those attacks.  Because Twitter has been found to be an effective communications tool during social unrest and protests--in Iran and Moldova, along with Tunisia and Egypt, more recently--it is an attractive target for governments to try to block, along with Facebook.  (via The Huffington Post.)Updated 6:05 p.m. PDTwith NANOG report of outages.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Motorola tablet taps Nvidia for 3D]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-tablet-taps-nvidia-for-3d</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-tablet-taps-nvidia-for-3d</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-tablet-taps-nvidia-for-3d</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Motorola's upcoming tablet packs relatively powerful Nvidia 3D silicon, confirming a demo Nvidia did a year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show and underscoring the importance of graphics in future tablets. The Motorola prototype running Google's Honeycomb, the next version of Android, was shown at the D: Dive Into Mobile in San Francisco Monday. &quot;We're taking advantage of the 3D processing power. The particular processor is Nvidia. Their dual-core 3D processor. These guys really know 3D,&quot; said Google's Andy Rubin when showing off a new 3D version of Google Maps, which is due for cell phones &quot;in a matter of days.&quot; The new version of Google Maps for Mobile will draw using vector graphics, which can result in more responsive mapping because less bandwidth is required. Google Maps will also allow buildings and locations to be rotated via a touch interface. His discussion of the tablet was streamed from the conference (see video, right). That processor would be Nvidia's Tegra 2, of course. That chip is one of the first to pack a dual-core Cortex-A9 ARM processor with a graphics chip that delivers mobile &quot;3D game playability and a visually engaging, highly-responsive 3D user interface,&quot; according to Nvidia. Motorola's tablet was first revealed via an Nvidia demo at last year's Consumer Electronics Show. At that time, an Nvidia representative characterized the device as a Motorola-Verizon tablet and said it contained an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. The tablet's 3D capability that Rubin praised shows that Nvidia's expertise in 3D may give it a leg up on competitors. And it certainly puts Intel on notice, which has not emphasized 3D to date in its mainstream Atom processors targeted at small devices like tablets. And a wave of tablets is about to break packing dual-core chips from Texas Instruments (OMAP 4) and Qualcomm (MSM8660), according to Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman &amp; Renshaw, all packing enhanced 3D processing. &quot;[Nvidia] is fairly competitive but the offset is Qualcomm, which has most of the wins in new tablets,&quot; Kumar said, adding that TI will also be in a few high-profile designs. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Amazingly, the Xbox 360 is 5 years old]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazingly-the-xbox-360-is-5-years-old</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazingly-the-xbox-360-is-5-years-old</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazingly-the-xbox-360-is-5-years-old</guid>
<description><![CDATA[And just like that, theXbox 360 is five years old.Five years ago yesterday I was one of about 2,000 people who spent 30 very cold hours inside a giant hangar in the Southern California desert celebrating the launch of this brand new video game console. The so-called &quot;Zero Hour&quot; event was the start of something that has helped change the industry forever. The original Xbox 360, which was released five years ago at an event in the Southern California desert.(Credit:Microsoft)It's hard to believe that five years has gone by so fast, but sure enough, the Xbox 360 has officially reached the age at which previous generations of video game consoles would be retired in favor of the next round. But the new Xbox was the first to hit the playing field of what quickly became known as the &quot;next-gen&quot; consoles: the Xbox, Sony'sPlayStation 3 and Nintendo'sWii, the latter two of which would be released in November 2006.Amazingly, on that frigid Nov. 21, 2005, Sony's flagship console was still the PlayStation 2, and no one had yet even heard the name &quot;Wii.&quot;Along the way, the Xbox 360 has become a major part of Microsoft's stable of products, and has helped spawn (or enhance) some of the biggest and most important exclusive titles and accessories in video game history: the Halo, Gears of War, and Fable franchises, among many others' the Kinect motion-sensitive controller' and of course, the massively popular Xbox Live service.But the Xbox has also had issues, most notably the infamous Red Ring of Death failures, and the resulting $1 billion warranty program Microsoft instituted to handle the resulting thousands of dead Xboxes. Many gamers also scoffed at its original behemoth power supply.  Yet Microsoft came away from that episode looking smart--instead of denying the problem, the company embraced it and won the goodwill of a lot of people by agreeing to replace their consoles for free for up to three years. And while few predicted the incredible success of the Wii, which has long led the next-generation console wars, few others saw how thoroughly the Xbox would outpace the PlayStation 3 in the first years of the generation. Month after month, the Xbox outsold the PS3, and games available for both consoles frequently sold far better on Microsoft's platform than on Sony's. Though that gap has narrowed in the last year or so, Sony still has a long way to go to catch up.And the Xbox 360 itself has gone through several iterations. When it launched in 2005, it was a somewhat barebones machine with a bolt-on 20GB hard drive and neither a built-in HD DVD drive nor integrated Wi-Fi. Over the years, Microsoft has released several new versions of the Xbox--first the Xbox 360 Elite in 2007, which came with a 120GB hard drive and an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port, an HDMI cable, and a wireless remote' and later the Xbox 360 Slim, which features a 250GB hard drive. Over the years, the price of the core console has dropped only from $400 in 2005 to $300 today.And that fact alone may be the most surprising about the five years of the next-generation consoles. &quot;If you'd told me in 2005 that [for the holiday season in] 2010, the three consoles would be $300 [for the full-featured Xbox 360 Slim], $300 [for the core PlayStation 3] and $200 [for the Wii],&quot; said Michael Pachter, a video game analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, &quot;I would have told you [that] you were on drugs. There's no way.&quot;But that is indeed the way things have worked out. And despite having dropped the price of the core system just $100 over five years--albeit with far more built in than there was five years ago--Microsoft is still selling hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360s each month' according to the analyst firm NPD Group, Microsoft moved 325,000 Xbox 360s in October. That's testament to what consumers feel they're getting out of the system.And that's translated into sales. Pachter said that Microsoft has sold 40 million Xbox 360s, and currently has 17 million Xbox Live Gold customers, each of whom are paying $60 a year.Microsoft was not able to respond to a request for comment. &quot;They've done it by creating more value for the consumer,&quot; said Pachter. &quot;There's a built-in hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi....and Xbox Live is three to four times bigger than I thought it would be. The mindset of gamers back in 2005 was, we like to play by ourselves. In 2010 it's, we like to play with other people.&quot;Please stay tuned, as I will have a more in-depth article on the first five years of the Xbox tomorrow.Correction at 2:21 p.m. PT: This story originally had the wrong price for the Xbox Live Gold service, and inaccurately stated that the first Xbox 360 did not have a DVD drive.         Daniel Terdiman     Full Profile E-mail Daniel Terdiman   E-mail Daniel Terdiman If you have a question or comment for Daniel Terdiman, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[AT&T spins post-Thanksgiving deals]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-spins-post-thanksgiving-deals</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-spins-post-thanksgiving-deals</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-spins-post-thanksgiving-deals</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AT&amp;T will sell the RIM BlackBerry Torch for 1 cent next Saturday.(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)We've already told you about Amazon Wireless' cell phone deals for the holiday shopping brouhaha, but now AT&amp;T is getting in on the act as well. From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the carrier will be offering a deal a day for many if its phones. Here's what you'll see. November 26: AT&amp;T says it will offer &quot;some of the best prices ever&quot; on its &quot;most popular&quot; touch-screen devices. At this point, we don't exactly know which handsets that includes, so we'll have to wait and see.November 27: For 24 hours, a selection of the carrier's refurbished devices, including the RIM BlackBerry Torch, will be available for just one penny with a service contract.November 28: Four AT&amp;T messaging handsets, the Pantech Link, the LG Vu Plus, the Sharp FX, and the Pantech Pursuit. Keep in mind that you'll need an unlimited messaging plan or a $20 combination of messaging and data plan.November 29: In what is perhaps the carrier's best deal, AT&amp;T will offers a few smartphones for just one penny if you sign a new contract. The devices list, which will rotate every three hours, will include the HTC Aria, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G, the Motorola Flipout, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, and the Motorola Bravo.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Escort announces GPS, radar detector mashup]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=escort-announces-gps-radar-detector-mashup</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=escort-announces-gps-radar-detector-mashup</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=escort-announces-gps-radar-detector-mashup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Passport iQ radar/laser detecting GPS is the first of its kind.(Credit:Escort)Escort is a brand that's probably best known for its line of radar and laser detectors, but it got its toes wet in the world of GPS with its Entourage line of GPS vehicle locators last year. Today, Escort has stepped further into the world of GPS with its first portable navigation device, the Passport iQ (unless you count the SmartMirror, which is hardly portable). And because old habits die hard, they've crammed a radar and laser detector into its chassis for good measure.Superficially, the Passport iQ looks like a standard portable navigation device. It's got a 5-inch touch screen, displays 3D Navteq-supplied maps, and mounts to the windshield with a suction-cup mount. The unit features spoken turn-by-turn directions, graphic lane guidance, and--like many GPS navigators we've tested--displays the current speed limit where available. However, where normal GPS devices may offer the ability to overlay POI icons for gas stations, hotels, and the like, the Passport iQ is able to overlay Escort's Defender Database icons marking red light cameras, speed cameras, and known speed traps. A 90-day trial of the Defender Database is included with the unit, after which a subscription will be required.The iQ can display radar data on its touch screen...(Credit:Escort)...or map data with a radar info overlay.(Credit:Escort)Things get interesting when Escort mentions that it has integrated a fully functional radar and laser detector based on its Passport 9500ix detector. This means that the Passport iQ is able to monitor X, K, Ka, and Ku band speed radar, as well as Laser bands. The iQ also features Escort's AutoLearn feature, which automatically identifies and analyzes radar sources, locking out false alarms such as automatic door openers or motion sensors. Users are able to display a wide range of radar-based information on the unit's color screen including breakouts of the detection strength of the various bands. Users are also able to overlay the radar detection information over the navigation screen and vice versa.The Escort Passport iQ is available at an MSRP of $649.99 or about the same price as buying the previously mentioned Passport 9500ix ($499) and a reasonably priced GPS device of similar size. For that price, users get the convenience of only fumbling with one device while getting in and out of thecar, compatibility with Escort's line of accessories (such as the questionably legal ZR4 laser shifter), and, while Escort will probably never say this itself, a bit of radar detector stealth and deniability in states where radar detectors are illegal.Escort has also announced plans to release a second version of the Passport iQ that includes Bluetoothhands-free calling and traffic data. At this price range, that's the one we'd wait for.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Researchers attack transistors to slay vampire power]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=researchers-attack-transistors-to-slay-vampire-power</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=researchers-attack-transistors-to-slay-vampire-power</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=researchers-attack-transistors-to-slay-vampire-power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The European Union is sponsoring a multimillion-dollar research project to boost the efficiency of everyday electronics and choke the constant flow of wasted energy from their chips.The three-year effort, called Project Steeper, promises to result in gadgets that operate 10 times longer on a battery charge and don't lose energy to standby--or vampire--power, researchers say. Although there are many different ways to improve efficiency in computing, the focus of this work is on the basic building block of all electronics, the transistor. Everything from TVs to cell phone chargers draws a small current even when they are not in use. Called standby or vampire power, this little trickle results in a huge amount of unused energy.Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the U.S. estimates that standby power alone is upwards of 10 percent of U.S. consumers' electricity bills. In Europe, standby power in one year is equal to the electricity consumption of Austria, the Czech Republic, and Portugal in one year, according to IBM Research, which is involved in the project. At the same time, power consumption from electronic gadgets is becoming a bigger and bigger share of all electricity use, to the point where they can represent 15 percent of utility bills, according to the International Energy Agency.Standby, or vampire, power refers to electronic devices' constant consumption of a trickle of power even when they are turned off.(Credit:IBM)The problem is that transistors, which control the flow of electricity through microprocessor circuits, &quot;leak&quot; electric charge, much the way that a leaky faucet drips water, explained Heike Riel, a researcher at IBM in Zurich. The problem is getting worse as chip designers cram more and more transistors into tighter packages, since transistor gates have less control over that flow, she explained.Project Steeper researchers plan to design less &quot;leaky&quot; transistors that can be manufactured by the chip industry within 6 to 10 years, said Riel. The project, which will be funded with $5.5 million from the EU and an undisclosed investment from corporations involved, will be led by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and IBM and will involve a number of other European academic and commercial research organizations. &quot;We are really optimizing the individual transistor, the building block of the processor,&quot; she said. &quot;We are working on an existing technology platform, which is very important so we can stick to using (silicon) wafers.&quot;Tunnel field-effect transistorsThe EU-sponsored project, like a number of other research efforts like it, aims to create semiconductors that have a more abrupt switch between the on and off state than the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) design, which has been used since the 1970s, according to IBM. These devices would have a steep slope between on/off transitions, which gives the project its name, and would lower the leakage of charge in transistors.To get there, researchers will pursue new materials for so-called tunnel field-effect transistors, which have been studied for several years but no working devices have been shown, said Riel. European researchers in Project Steeper will explore ways to make transistors more energy efficient using tunnel field transistors and semiconductor nanowires, pictured here.(Credit:IBM)One group of researchers will seek to make these transistors from silicon and silicon germanium, and another group will work with semiconducting nanowires. These cylinder-shaped nanowires, which are only a few nanometers in diameter, allow better electrostatic control. &quot;Because they are cylindrical, we can now wrap the gate around the cylinder, which gives us much better gate control and leads to the fact that there is less leakage,&quot; explained Riel. These devices would operate at under 0.5 volts, which means that electronics would use significantly less power, allowing for a reduction on the order of 10 times compared to today's products.In three years, researchers hope to show a demonstrating nanowire semiconductor device. A second phase of research would adapt manufacturing techniques to make them. The nanowires would be made from indium arsenide grown on top of a silicon wafer, Riel said.Low-power transistors not only translate into longer battery life for mobile phones or digital music players, but they also pave the way for new forms of power generation. For example, energy harvesting technologies, where motion is converted into usable energy, today are gated by the amount of power electronics need to operate.But more efficient transistors have implications for large-scale computing as well. &quot;Right now for supercomputers, it's less a technology challenge as it is power consumption that limits the increase in performance,&quot; said Riel.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Verizon Wireless subscription growth slows]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:23:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon Communications saw revenue slip in the third quarter of 2010 as it experienced a decline in wireless subscribers.For the third quarter of 2010, Verizon today reported a profit of $881 million, or 31 cents a share. This was down from $1.18 billion, or 41 cents a share, during the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding certain items, such as merger and restructuring costs, earnings dropped to 56 cents per share from 60 cents and revenue declined 2.9 percent to $26.5 billion. Analysts had expected Verizon to report earnings of 54 cents on $26.3 billion in revenue.Verizon's wireless business struggled to keep up with rival AT&amp;T during the quarter. Verizon added 997,000 new wireless customers in the third quarter, compared with 1.2 million customers a year before. The company added 584,000 &quot;postpaid&quot; subscribers, or those who have contracts.Meanwhile, AT&amp;T, which announced third-quarter earnings yesterday, said it added 2.6 million new subscribers during the quarter. AT&amp;T added 745,000 postpaid subscribers, of which about 80 percent of whom were using smartphones.AT&amp;T's smartphone growth was fueled by sales of theApple iPhone. AT&amp;T has had an exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in the U.S. since the device's launch 2007. There are rumors that Verizon will get a version of the phone starting in January.Verizon has invested heavily in theGoogle Android platform, selling smartphones called Droids to compete against the iPhone. These devices, made mostly by Motorola and HTC, have done well for Verizon. But the third quarter demonstrates, these devices are still no iPhone. A Verizon iPhone could have a big effect on sales and subscription levels.Verizon also reported that its wireline business added 204,000 subscribers to its Fios Internet and TV, for a total of 3.3 million, up 26 percent from last year.During the quarterly conference call, Verizon executives confirmed that it will begin offering a tiered pricing plan as part of a promotion around the holidays. CFO John Killian said the company believes it will have a unique approach to pricing data services. He confirmed that the company will offer a $15 plan that will offer 150 Megabytes of data per month along with the company's $30 unlimited plan. The new $15 a month plan is designed to entice customers to upgrade to smartphones.He wouldn't comment on what the new pricing plans will look like long term. But he said that changes are likely to occur as Verizon rolls out its 4G LTE network in 38 markets later this year. &quot;We like the concept of tiered pricing,&quot; said Killian, &quot;but we will continue to look at this. We will probably have some pricing changes when we roll out 4G and 4G pricing, so there will be more to come then.&quot;  Updated at 11:10 a.m. PDTwith information from the conference call.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 9, its prettiest browser yet]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-launches-internet-explorer-9-its-prettiest-browser-yet</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-launches-internet-explorer-9-its-prettiest-browser-yet</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-launches-internet-explorer-9-its-prettiest-browser-yet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft&amp;'s long journey to revitalize Internet Explorer, and make it a competitive web browser against speedy upstarts like Google Chrome, finally reached its end tonight. A few hours ago, Microsoft made the final version of Internet Explorer 9 available on its Beauty of the Web site.The official launch tonight marks the end to months of testing for IE9, which started with the beta release of the browser last September and continued with the launch of the first IE9 Release Candidate (the final step before a program&amp;'s final release) in February.Internet Explorer 9 proved very popular with testers &amp;8212' its beta version hit 2 million downloads in its first two days, and it was downloaded 25 million times when its beta period ended. That&amp;'s a surprising amount of interest for a Microsoft browser, which tells us that the company&amp;'s big gamble to revamp IE9 &amp;8212' stripping away the confusing toolbar clutter from IE8 towards a more minimal design &amp;8212' paid off.IE9 is a major departure for Microsoft. In addition to its minimal design, it packs in modern  browser capabilities like a fast Javascript rendering engine and support  for HTML5. IE9 also includes hardware acceleration for web-page  rendering (it uses your  graphics processor to do some of the work) a4&quot;  something that even  geek-friendly browsers like Chrome and Firefox have  yet to roll out  (though ita4a4s coming soon to both).I&amp;'ve been using IE9 throughout its test phase and don&amp;'t really notice anything too different with the final release. For those heading into the browser for the first time, prepare to be wowed by its speed and design. Microsoft one-upped Google Chrome&amp;'s minimal design by moving the browser&amp;'s address bar right alongside its tabs, leaving even more room for web pages to shine. It&amp;'s also clear with this final release that IE9 is far faster than the latest version of Firefox (not including Firefox 4 beta releases).Rick Bergman, head of the graphics chip and microprocessor business at Advanced Micro Devices, said in an interview with VentureBeat&amp;'s Dean Takahashi that IE9&amp;'s use of advanced graphics will lead to better web sites and more usage of graphics chips in everyday non-gaming computing tasks. That creates more demand for increased graphics processing power in future products and more demand for either powerful combo graphics-processor chips or stand-alone graphics chips.Microsoft has also pumped up the capabilities of IE9&amp;'s address bar. You can perform searches from within it, but unlike its competitors, you can also view search results from within it as well. The address bar defaults to Microsoft&amp;'s Bing search engine, but you&amp;'re free to switch it to Google, Amazon and others.The browser is fast enough to tempt power users who haven&amp;'t fully invested themselves in Chrome or Firefox. But the real value of IE9 is that it will bring the speed and features geeks are familiar with to general users. Those users will likely never get around to installing a third-party browser. At least with IE9, it&amp;'s less of a crime if they don&amp;'t.Next Story: Halo Reach Defiant Map Pack keep fans busy for hundreds of millions of hours Previous Story: HP&amp;'s new CEO was poised during speech and press Q&amp;038'A (video)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: browsers, chrome, Firefox, IE, IE9, Internet Explorer 9Companies: Google, Microsoft, Mozilla          Tags: browsers, chrome, Firefox, IE, IE9, Internet Explorer 9Companies: Google, Microsoft, MozillaDevindra 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. 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[News Corp a4Awrestlinga4 with MySpacea4a4s future]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-âÂ€ÂœwrestlingâÂ€Â-with-myspaceâÂ€Â™s-future</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-âÂ€ÂœwrestlingâÂ€Â-with-myspaceâÂ€Â™s-future</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-âÂ€ÂœwrestlingâÂ€Â-with-myspaceâÂ€Â™s-future</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Is News Corp preparing to sell MySpace News Corpa4a4s digital media chief Jon Miller declined to answer the question when he was on stage at Business Insidera4a4s Ignition conference today, but he suggested that ita4a4s a real possibility.MySpace recently unveiled a redesign with a focus on what Miller called a4Athe socialization and personalization of contenta4, which supposedly moves it out of direct competition with Facebook. Miller said the redesign was a4Adone pretty wella4 and is a4Aabout to be done very wella4 as MySpace continues to improve the site.a4AI think therea4a4s something there,a4 he said. a4AEach day Ia4a4m more enthusiastic.a4Still, Miller acknowledged that the redesign needs to prove itself. In the meantime, therea4a4s a question about whether News Corp can wait for that to happen. News Corp faces a4Athe glare of public company reporting,a4 so ita4a4s harder to continue pouring money into an unprofitable product.Fair enough, said Business Insider co-founder Henry Blodget, but what has Miller actually decideda4AIa4a4m wrestling with it,a4 Miller responded.He also discussed News Corp&amp;'s upcoming iPad newspaper, which I covered in a separate post.Next Story: On the run, WikiLeaks finds refuge with Swiss provider Previous Story: Vudu and Walmart launch Twilight Eclipse movie cross-promotionPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Ignition, Ignition 2010Companies: MySpace, News CorpPeople: Jon Miller          Tags: Ignition, Ignition 2010Companies: MySpace, News CorpPeople: Jon MillerAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat 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.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Whoa, Google, That&'s A Pretty Big Security&nbsp'Hole]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=whoa-google-thatrsquos-a-pretty-big-securitynbsphole</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=whoa-google-thatrsquos-a-pretty-big-securitynbsphole</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=whoa-google-thatrsquos-a-pretty-big-securitynbsphole</guid>
<description><![CDATA[See Updates at bottom of post.Facebook would probably just consider this a feature, but the rest of us will definitely consider this a big security hole. The creator of http://guntada.blogspot.com (don&amp;'t visit that site just yet) emailed us this morning to explain.If you&amp;'re already logged in to any Google account (Gmail, etc.), and visit that site, he&amp;'s harvested your Google email. And proves it by emailing you immediately.And it even works in &amp;''incognito&amp;'' mode (also known as porn mode).What is the exploit We don&amp;'t know, and Google has yet to respond to us about it. We note that the site doing the exploiting is on Google&amp;'s own blogging platform. One developer we spoke with was confused as well, saying:i have no idea what this is exploiting but there&amp;'s a decent chance it has something to do with Friend Connect and the way it passes data between iFrames (ie yes, it very well could be opensocial related). whatever is going on it&amp;'s an extremely serious security and privacy violation and i am confident google will address this in moments counted in minutes.i can&amp;'t recall ever having seen anything like this on a major IdP&amp;'s website. it&amp;'s scary stuff.If you insist on trying this yourself (hey, I did), the email to you will likely be in your spam filter.This isn&amp;'t a particularly dangerous exploit, but it sure is something a lot of people would love to have on their own sites. The ability to harvest emails from anyone already signed into Google, not to mention just see exactly who&amp;'s visiting the site, is extremely valuable. See the second comment thread here for a related issue with App Engine a month ago.Update: The site is now down. Here&amp;'s what it looked like:Update 2: Email from Vahe, the man behind this:Hi Mr. Arrington,I see you have already shared the news. It&amp;'s good that google got it down, I really don&amp;'t want people to know about how that was done (if Google contacts I will definitely tell them &amp;8211' they just don&amp;'t answer my emails). Problem relies solely on Google.Problem is I asked a lot of people, and most of them don&amp;'t really understand and care about this kind of things and big companies act like they all really protect our privacy and such, but they see that people don&amp;'t care and don&amp;'t do anything really.Regards,Vahe G. (Armenian 21yrs guy whom Google doesn&amp;'t wanted to even talk to)Update 3: From Google: &amp;''We take potential security issues very seriously, and our team is actively investigating this one. We&amp;'ll share more information soon.&amp;'' I suggest Google contact Vahe directly, he seems like he&amp;'d love to talk to them.Update 4: Google says the issue is now resolved: a4AWe quickly fixed the issue in the Google Apps Script API that could have allowed for emails to be sent to Gmail users without their permission if they visited a specially designed website while signed into their account. We immediately removed the site that demonstrated this issue, and disabled the functionality soon after. We encourage responsible disclosure of potential application security issues to security@google.com.a4CrunchBase InformationGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Aol To Unveil New Aol Mail On&nbsp'Sunday]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-to-unveil-new-aol-mail-onnbspsunday</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-to-unveil-new-aol-mail-onnbspsunday</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-to-unveil-new-aol-mail-onnbspsunday</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Aol (err, us, I guess) will relaunch Aol Mail on Sunday afternoon, we&amp;'ve confirmed from sources close to Aol (hah). The company is currently the no. 4 webmail provider with around 30 million users.We&amp;'ll have a chance to play with it before then and post a full review along with a conflict disclosure. Things we know now &amp;8211' it&amp;'s completely focused on speed, there will be a variety of domain names to choose from (not just aol.com) and it will be available on phoenix.aol.com. The old Aol Mail will stay available for the foreseeable future.Not exactly the best launch timing I&amp;'ve ever seen. And yes, Aol told us we absolutely cannot post that the launch is coming. But the PR person who told us this is also now apparently our own PR person even though we haven&amp;'t requested a PR person and really wouldn&amp;'t know what to do with one anyway. Apart from doing things to drive her crazy. Thus, this post.Go team!CrunchBase InformationAOLInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[More purchase-sharing in real time - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-purchase-sharing-in-real-time---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-purchase-sharing-in-real-time---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-purchase-sharing-in-real-time---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Back in January we covered Blippy, the Twitter-like site that lets users automatically publish their shopping transactions in real time for all the world to see. Now targeting the same space is Swipely, a Rhode Island-based venture that''s planning to do much the same thing.Currently in invitation-only beta, Swipely aims to a4Aturn purchases into conversations,a4 in the site''s own words. Toward that end, it has developed a secure platform for consumers to share their purchase experiences online. Users begin by signing up and importing purchases from their credit or debit card accounts' email can also be used for purchases made online. Users remain in complete control of the purchases they share. For those they do, they can rate the experience and add comments or photos. Many purchases are automatically geolocated to specific store locations, and Swipely supports product details as well by integrating catalogs and menus from more than 250,000 retail and restaurant locations. The result, it says, is that users can start conversations around a4Aspecific outfits, meals, songs, movies, gadgets and millions of other products.a4 Upon seeing a compelling new purchase, other users can click to see the venue on the map and add the item to their own wish list' for music, movies and apps, meanwhile, they can just press play on select purchases to hear a song preview, see a video trailer or browse app screen shots. Swipely places a strong emphasis on protecting consumer privacy, it says, and has passed reviews and audits from leading third-party security and privacy organizations. After a recent security glitch at Blippy, it''s not entirely clear how concerned users will be about protecting their purchase information. Still, there''s no doubt the potential of social shopping is compelling, particularly when combined with a twist of nowism. Another one to watch!Website: www.swipely.comContact: business@swipely.comSpotted by: LA Times via Jim Stewart<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Hulu Plus drops invites, heads to Sony Bravia HDTVs and all PlayStation 3 users]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-plus-drops-invites-heads-to-sony-bravia-hdtvs-and-all-playstation-3-users</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-plus-drops-invites-heads-to-sony-bravia-hdtvs-and-all-playstation-3-users</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-plus-drops-invites-heads-to-sony-bravia-hdtvs-and-all-playstation-3-users</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Even  though Hulua4a4s paid offering, Hulu Plus, doesna4a4t appear to be a smashing success, the streaming video site is still pushing forward by  dropping the need for invites, adding more content, and supporting more  devices.Hulu Plus is heading to Sony Bravia HDTVa4a4s today, and it will be available  to all Playstation 3 users next week, the company announced today.Previously, only paid subscribers to Sonya4a4s Playstation Plus service could access Hulu Plus. The company has also added new titles to the  premium service, including new shows like Raising Hope, No Ordinary  Family, and The Event, as well as past seasons of shows like Monk and Battlestar Galactica. Sony, in addition to producing consumer electronics, is also a major producer of movies and TV shows, some of which it has licensed to Hulu.Hulu  Plus will eventually make it was to other Bravia devices, like Sonya4a4s  Blu-ray players, home theater systems, and even the forgotten Sony Dash  a4APersonal Internet Viewer.a4While ita4a4s nice to see Hulu Plus on more devices, Hulu needs to be working  double-time to actually make users want to pay $9.99 a month. The fact  that Hulu Plus doesna4a4t play certain content on home theater devices is  infuriating, and the company needs to land more content deals to justify  the subscription price. If it cana4a4t accomplish that, then Hulu may be  better off making the rumors of a cheaper $4.99 Hulu Plus plan a  reality.Next Story: Google Instant heads to the iPhone and Android Previous Story: Power Map turns your appliances into Facebook friendsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Bravia, HDTV, Hulu Plus, PlayStation, Playstation 3, PS3, streaming video, videoCompanies: Hulu, Sony          Tags: Bravia, HDTV, Hulu Plus, PlayStation, Playstation 3, PS3, streaming video, videoCompanies: Hulu, SonyDevindra 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[With Their Carrier-Crippling SIM, Can Apple Do What Google Chickened Out&nbsp'Of]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-their-carrier-crippling-sim-can-apple-do-what-google-chickened-outnbspof</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-their-carrier-crippling-sim-can-apple-do-what-google-chickened-outnbspof</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-their-carrier-crippling-sim-can-apple-do-what-google-chickened-outnbspof</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At the beginning of this year, I was very excited. You see, at Google&amp;'s launch event for the Nexus One, they made one thing clear: they were going directly after the dominating carrier lock-in model that had held everyone in the U.S.&amp;nbsp'captive&amp;nbsp'for years. Then Google chickened out. And things are now getting just as bad as they have ever been. Unless Apple has the cojones to do what Google wouldn&amp;'t, that is.To be clear, the report today from GigaOM&amp;'s&amp;nbsp'Stacey Higginbotham isn&amp;'t about the U.S. She notes that Apple is working alongside&amp;nbsp'SIM-card manufacturer Gemalto to make a built-in hardware SIM card that could work with many carriers across Europe. Essentially, this would allow customers to jump from carrier to carrier as a better deal came along or as they were traveling without having to swap SIM cards.The thing is, in many European countries, this already isn&amp;'t nearly the problem that it is in the U.S. because the market is much more competitive. But here&amp;'s the key to all of this from Higginbotham:Then customers will then be able to choose their carrier at purchase at the Apple web site or retail store, or buy the phone and get their handset up and running through a download at the App Store as opposed to visiting a carrier store or calling the carrier.Sound familiarThat&amp;'s almost exactly what Google&amp;'s plan was to sell the Nexus One originally. They created a web store where customers could pick their phone, their carrier, and a plan. Of course, at launch, Google only had the Nexus One with T-Mobile on board. But they noted that soon other carriers like Sprint and Verizon would be on board as well. That never happened.It&amp;'s true that the Nexus One wasn&amp;'t selling well that way. But the reality is because it was the carriers&amp;' fault. Google&amp;'s original plan was to sell the Nexus One for $99, unlocked, on their website, we&amp;'ve heard. Let me repeat that: $99. Unlocked. But when they ran this idea by the carriers (which they had to work with because they control the networks they need, remember) they were told to go to hell.And so what we got was a Nexus One that you could either buy unlocked for several hundreds of dollars a4&quot; which basically no one did. Or a carrier-subsidized one. Just like the good-old days.When the Nexus One didn&amp;'t sell well on their site, the other carrier partners bailed on the Nexus One altogether (undoubtedly patting themselves on the back as they did). And Google stopped selling it to consumers. In other words, the entire idea blew up in Google&amp;'s face.They should have stuck to their guns, sold the Nexus One as they wanted to. And told the carriers to screw themselves.&amp;nbsp'Of course, had they done that, Google wouldn&amp;'t have had the buddy-buddy relationship with carriers that they now enjoy. That gamble could have risked the success of Android. And Google wasn&amp;'t willing to go there. It was a smart business&amp;nbsp'maneuver, but it sucks for us, the consumers.Enter Apple.The company has proven time and time again that they don&amp;'t care who they piss off in order to push their own agenda forward. That agenda includes creating the best consumer experience possible. A big part of that in the cellphone business would be allowing customers to buy a phone and pick carriers based on who has the best deals/options.Obviously, that hasn&amp;'t been the case with Apple in the U.S. as they&amp;'ve been tied&amp;nbsp'exclusively&amp;nbsp'to one carrier, AT&amp;amp'T. But that&amp;'s about to change. And that time spent with AT&amp;amp'T wasn&amp;'t a total waste. They&amp;'ve been able to build themselves from literally nothing into a force to be reckoned with in the mobile space. The iPhone is now by far Apple&amp;'s largest source of revenue. And customers from all of the other carriers are demanding the phone come to their network.Now Apple is in position to make a move. But the main problem in the U.S. is that the carriers run on networks powered by different technologies. That&amp;'s not the case in Europe, so it makes sense to start there with this carrier-killing SIM, while the U.S. transitions to the much more universal LTE technologies that are forthcoming.And let&amp;'s not forget a huge part of this equation. Apple, unlike Google, runs their own retail stores. Hundreds of them. Around the world. Does anyone doubt that the iPhone would still be a massive success if it was only sold through their stores and website If they do, they&amp;'re foolish.So Apple can absolutely do what Google couldn&amp;'t/wouldn&amp;'t. The question is, would they really be willing to possibly alienate their carrier partners by screwing them over Again, the iPhone is Apple&amp;'s biggest business, but that&amp;'s largely thanks to the subsidies the carriers pay them. Could Apple risk thatIt looks like we may find out shortly.[photo: flickr/protohiro]CrunchBase InformationAppleGoogleiPhoneAndroidInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Can the FCC stop the coming spectrum crunch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-the-fcc-stop-the-coming-spectrum-crunch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-the-fcc-stop-the-coming-spectrum-crunch</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-the-fcc-stop-the-coming-spectrum-crunch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post is is sponsored by Sprint, the Now Network. Learn more here.  As always, VentureBeat is adamant about maintaining editorial objectivity. Sprint had no involvement in the content of this post.For all the talk of a pending spectrum crunch that is worrying regulators and wireless companies, Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski doesn&amp;'t seem to be doing a whole lot about it.Genachowski reasserted his stance that the government needs to open up the &amp;''white space&amp;'' of the wireless spectrum between television stations for auction to wireless companies in order to alleviate an upcoming spectrum crunch a4&quot; which refers to a large number of companies crowding the limited amount of wireless space. But he didn&amp;'t initiate any new policies or make any significant announcements when he presented a keynote at the CTIA Wireless 2011 conference today in Orlando, Fla.&amp;''We want to continue to focus on an incentive-based, market-driven path to tackle the spectrum crunch a4&quot; a voluntary auction for the wireless spectrum,&amp;'' Genachowski said.It&amp;'s the same stance Genachowski took when he presented the nation&amp;'s broadband plan a4&quot; which included ways to alleviate the upcoming wireless spectrum crunch a4&quot;at the CTIA Wireless 2009 conference. The FCC originally developed those plans because smartphones, and now tablets, use much more of the wireless spectrum when transmitting and receiving data, Genachowski said. Smartphones use 24 times the amount of spectrum that cell phones use, and tablets use 120 times the spectrum that cell phones use.&amp;''We simply can&amp;'t afford to delay on voluntary incentive auctions,&amp;'' he said. &amp;''The incentive auction is an idea whose time has come.&amp;''Despite his talk of pushing the government hard on creating those auctions and firmer regulations that would open up additional wireless spectrum for companies, Genachowski didn&amp;'t say when or if the auctions would actually occur. And aside from those auctions, he didn&amp;'t present any other strong plans to alleviate the upcoming spectrum crunch that wireless carriers might face. The FCC is charged with regulating the wireless spectrum and all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States.One new idea Genachowski suggested was using a network of femtocells a4&quot;basically miniature cellular towers that tie into broadband networks to transmit a wireless signal a4&quot; to help alleviate some of the strain on networks. But he didn&amp;'t lay out any kind of plan to create a network that some companies like Fon, a wireless hotspot provider, use internationally to create a pervasive wireless network.Genachowski didn&amp;'t comment on AT&amp;amp'T&amp;'s recent $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile. The telecom giant purchased T-Mobile to gain access to wireless spectrum without having to participate in an auction, AT&amp;amp'T Mobility president Ralph de la Vega said.If the government finds ways to free up additional spectrum for auction, it could create an additional 205,000 jobs related to developing and deploying a new 4th-generation wireless network powered by WiMax or LTE a4&quot;which are much faster wireless networks, he said. That would also promote innovation in other parts of the wireless world, such as allowing cell phone users to text 911 (rather than calling in) and transmit pictures of crime scenes and burning buildings, he said.Next Story: Top 10 Reasons not to miss Web 2.0 Expo this year Previous Story: Apple will launch iPad 2 in 25 more countries on FridayPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, spectrum auctions, spectrum crunch, white spaceCompanies: Julius GenachowskiPeople: FCC, spectrum          Tags: FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, spectrum auctions, spectrum crunch, white spaceCompanies: Julius GenachowskiPeople: FCC, spectrumMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron. 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>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
