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<title>Haaze.com / PerchidloZX / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple to make power adapters with rechargeable battery packs]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-make-power-adapters-with-rechargeable-battery-packs</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-make-power-adapters-with-rechargeable-battery-packs</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-make-power-adapters-with-rechargeable-battery-packs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:AppleInsider)According to AppleInsider, Apple may be looking into building its own external battery pack for iOS devices and Macs, a popular third-party accessory for many Apple product owners.A patent filed by Apple and found by AppleInsider shows how Apple would build a rechargeable battery into its power adapters, allowing anything from MacBook Pros to iPods to get an extra boost of juice when batteries are running low and a wall outlet is not available. Despite many rechargeable battery packs being available on the market, Apple says they may not provide the best solution:&quot;'Such external batteries are generally cumbersome to use, at least because they must be unpacked for use and then repacked for storage,&quot; Apple's filing states of current options available on the market. &quot;In addition, many users forget to bring the external battery in addition to the adapter while in transit.&quot;By combining a useful accessory like a rechargeable battery pack with an essential element like your wall adapter, Apple hopes to keep its consumers perpetually consuming. Interestingly, the patent includes a provision for a trickle source, such as solar power, allowing the internal battery of the adapter to be charged even when it's not plugged into an outlet.Apple has some of the best battery technology in the world for consumer electronics and the company is not resting on its laurels. By expanding the functionality of accessories that already exist, Apple is continuing to promote an ease of mobility with its products. Third-party accessory makers should take notice as it appears Apple is looking to cash in on another lucrative market.Would you purchase a wall adapter that doubles as a rechargeable battery Let me know in the comments!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AMD CEO resigns' search on for new leader]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-ceo-resigns-search-on-for-new-leader</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-ceo-resigns-search-on-for-new-leader</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-ceo-resigns-search-on-for-new-leader</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AMD CEO Dirk Meyer will step down after reaching an agreement with the company's board over his departure, AMD said today.Former AMD CEO Dirk Meyer(Credit:AMD) Thomas Siefert, AMD's CFO, will fill Meyer's spot on a temporary basis as the company searches for a new CEO. It doesn't sound like the decision was entirely Meyer's. &quot;...the board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time. This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company's ability to accomplish these objectives,&quot; AMD said in a press release Monday. Meyer had been with AMD since 1995, holding a variety of prominent engineering roles before becoming the man-in-waiting to succeed Hector Ruiz at the top spot, which he did in July 2008. During his tenure as CEO, AMD regained its financial footing to a certain degree, helped out by the settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Intel for $1.25 billion in November 2009. His departure comes as a bit of a surprise to the chip industry, judging by comments on Twitter from people like Microsoft's Rahul Sood, who worked closely with AMD for years developing gaming PCs for his Voodoo PC and later Hewlett-Packard, which acquired Sood's company. &quot;woah...Dirk Meyer resigned from @amd. that was completely and totally unexpected...,&quot; he wrote. AMD also announced preliminary revenue results for its fourth quarter, ahead of next week's expected announcement of its full financial results. Revenue will be $1.65 billion, slightly ahead of what analysts were expecting for the quarter.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Freescale chip chops vampire draw to zero]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chipmaker Freescale has designed a USB charger that knows when to stop working.At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Freescale will announce availability of Watt Saver, a system that eliminates the &quot;vampire&quot; power draw of wall chargers for mobile phones and other small electronics. The first generation of Freescale&amp;39's zero-draw technology is used in AT&amp;amp'T phone chargers.(Credit:Freescale)Even when wall chargers are no longer plugged into phones, the chargers still draw a small trickle of electricity, ranging from less than a watt for efficient chargers to over 5 watts. The Freescale system can detect when a phone's battery is full or when it's been unplugged and cut the power draw to zero.Last year AT&amp;T introduced its Zero Charger, available for $29.99 in stores, using Freescale's technology. Having tested the system with AT&amp;T, Freescale is now talking to other phone and gadget companies about using Watt Saver, said Glen Burchers, director of consumer segment marketing at Freescale.Watt Saver adds three components to a traditional wall charger, which are typically made by third-party companies rather than electronics manufacturers themselves. There is a micro-controller which detects when a phone has been unplugged, a capacitor to power the microcontroller, and a relay to shut off power, Burchers explained. The additional components add about $1 more to the charger's cost at retail.It's designed for wall chargers that have a USB output, but the technology can be used to eliminate vampire power in different power packs, according to Freescale.On an individual level, the dollar savings from cutting the vampire draw to zero is not very significant--perhaps less than one dollar over the course of a year, Burchers said. But in aggregate, the energy reductions make a big difference, given that there are 4 billion mobile phones already being used and another 1.4 billion sold a year. Freescale estimates that vampire power from cell phones is about 1,200 megawatts, which is the output of a large power plant. It plans on giving 1 percent of the proceeds from sales of the Watt Saver to a nonprofit dedicated to preserving natural resources.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Brookstone iPad pinball accessory goes MIA]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brookstone-ipad-pinball-accessory-goes-mia</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brookstone-ipad-pinball-accessory-goes-mia</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brookstone-ipad-pinball-accessory-goes-mia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Brookstone&amp;39's $80 iPad pinball accessory appears in the current catalog but is no longer available.(Credit:Brookstone)Gizmodo and few other blogs have posted images of a rather cool-looking iPad pinball table accessory from Brookstone. Alas, for some reason Brookstone's site says the $80 accessory is no longer offered and no free Pinball MagiciPad app for the iPad is currently available in the Apple App Store.We're not sure why the accessory has disappeared, but we did see it in the most recent Brookstone paper catalog. On the other hand, if you want New Potato's iPhone/iPod Touch pinball accessory (see video below), that's in stock for $30. While the free Pinball Magic app that's part of the package didn't get good reviews from users (most were probably using it without the accessory), the concept is entertaining in a retro-chic sort of way. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Did Bjrk (yes, Bjrk) get it right on geothermal energy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-bjã¶rk-yes-bjã¶rk-get-it-right-on-geothermal-energy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-bjã¶rk-yes-bjã¶rk-get-it-right-on-geothermal-energy</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-bjã¶rk-yes-bjã¶rk-get-it-right-on-geothermal-energy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This week, quirky Icelandic singer Bjrk made headlines, but not for wearing another swan dress to the Oscars &amp;8212' rather, the songstress was caught up in an imbroglio about geothermal energy.Geothermal energy is the rather less-sexy cleantech sister to solar and wind. Geothermal harnesses energy from deep within the earth &amp;8212' in essence, the volcanic energy created below the earth&amp;'s surface. There are two ways to harness geothermal: either by capturing steam that naturally emits from the earth, or by drilling into the ground for hot lava that is then used to boil water and create steam to turn turbines.In the &amp;''Venus as a Boy&amp;'' singer&amp;'s case, she accused Canadian company Magma Energy&amp;'s CEO, Ross Beaty, of draining Iceland&amp;'s geothermal resources, seemingly implying that geothermal is, in fact, not a renewable resource.&amp;''It lasts about 50 years,&amp;'' Bjrkreportedly told Maclean Magazine. &amp;''Geothermal plants work similarly to mines, you drill and then there is only a limited amount down there. When Magmaa4a4s current 65-year deal is over, the hole will be empty.a4But Maclean retracted Bjrk&amp;'sstatements and revised the story on its website after Magma threatened a libel lawsuit based on her comments that Magma had broken laws in South America. But the question still remains: Was she right about the geothermal stuffGreenBeat went to the experts and asked. So, is geothermal renewable or not&amp;''If you manage it well, it will be operating indefinitely. It&amp;'s not like an oilfield where atsome point there is no more oil,&amp;'' said Peter Asmus, Pike Research analyst and author of two books on renewable energies.Asmuscited the largest geothermal complex in the world, The Geysers, as an example of how things can go wrong. In that case, too many companies were trying to harvest steam without coordinating with each other, and it became a situation like &amp;''too many straws pulling from the same pool,&amp;'' Asumus said. Calpine has since taken over the entire facility, and local governmental stakeholders united to pump in wastewater to recharge and stabilize the steam coming out.The same can go for the lava-harvest form of geothermal &amp;8212' if companies don&amp;'t inject the lava back into the ground after they take it out and use it to heat water, then the resource could run out or become increasingly difficult to harvest.&amp;''It&amp;'s a resource that can be renewable if it&amp;'s well managed. If you just extract energy and don&amp;'t worry about reinjecting or renewing, you can use it all up,&amp;'' said John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies.So it appears that geothermal is, in fact, renewable &amp;8212' but with caveats. It&amp;'s unclear whether Bjrkfelt the geothermal resources in Iceland were being managed in an unsustainable way &amp;8212' or whether she misunderstood the concept of geothermal entirely.Geothermal has one key advantage over wind and solar in that it can run 24/7 and thus produce more power. But geothermal isn&amp;'t available everywhere &amp;8212' it&amp;'s mostly in areas with a lot of volcanic activity below the surface, like Iceland, Southeast Asia, and the West Coast of the U.S., such as in the Salton Sea facilities in southern California.It&amp;'s hard to be the ugly stepsister, too. Geothermal may well have attracted the ire of Bjrkand, at times, other environmentalists, because it&amp;'s a process that looks so similar to oil or coal mining, rife with heavy industrial equipment and drilling.&amp;''Geothermal is not visible and when it is, it lookslike an industrial power plant. It doesn&amp;'t distinguish itself by its looks as green,&amp;'' Asmus said.If looks are the issue, then perhaps geothermal companies should reserve a few dollars for better PR. Perhaps an envoy to Iceland, for starters[Top photo via Flickr/Zach Klein' bottom photo via Wikipedia Commons/Hansueli Krapf]Next Story: Here come the sales: Fans buy 2M Beatles songs on iTunes Previous Story: Is RIM flexing its muscles by kicking out popular chat app KikPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: geothermal energy, Salton Sea, The GeysersCompanies: Calpine, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, Magma Energy, Pike ResearchPeople: Bjork, John White, Peter Asmus          Tags: geothermal energy, Salton Sea, The GeysersCompanies: Calpine, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, Magma Energy, Pike ResearchPeople: Bjork, John White, Peter AsmusIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name).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[LivingSocial does another deal with Amazon.com]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=livingsocial-does-another-deal-with-amazon-com</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=livingsocial-does-another-deal-with-amazon-com</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=livingsocial-does-another-deal-with-amazon-com</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Since VentureBeat first reported that Amazon.com was jumping into the group-buying frenzy with its $175 million investment in LivingSocial, we&amp;'ve been wondering how the companies will collaborate. Wonder no more: LivingSocial is offering $20 Amazon.com gift certificates for $10.On the surface, this deal looks stupid. And stupid popular: More than 430,000 people have signed up for what&amp;'s essentially $10 in free money. The economics are even worse than they might seem: If you get three friends to sign up for $10 in free money, you get your $20 gift certificate for free.What makes the daily-deal business work is that a lot of small, local businesses have inventory they can afford to give away, whether it&amp;'s empty seats at a restaurant or space in a yoga class. With relatively low cost of goods, they can offer heavily discounted fare to people who subscribe to email newsletters from the likes of Groupon, the dominant player in this business, or LivingSocial, the perennial runner-up. Sure, they might lose money. But they&amp;'re betting they&amp;'ll make money from the new customers they attract.As Bradford Cross, the CEO of Woven, pointed out, it&amp;'s not that different from the small businesses who bid for keywords on Google: They&amp;'re paying a market rate to sign up new customers.Those economics, however, don&amp;'t seem to apply here. Amazon.com gift certificates might as well be cash. It&amp;'s not like Amazon needs to increase awareness: It&amp;'s the dominant player in e-commerce and the default choice when you go online to buy nearly anything.LivingSocial, on the other hand, desperately needs to add customers to catch up with Groupon. Typically, LivingSocial and Groupon don&amp;'t pay for the inventory they sell. They keep 50 percent or more of the price customers pay and hand what&amp;'s left to the business.A LivingSocial PR representative didn&amp;'t immediately respond to questions about the deal&amp;'s financial aspects. But I strongly doubt that this giveaway is structured like a typical offer. Is it possible that Amazon made part of its investment in LivingSocial in kind, and this deal is working through that gift-certificate inventory Perhaps. In a post on his blog, Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners, a LivingSocial investor, described it as the &amp;''first step of operational integration&amp;'' between the companies.I&amp;'d bet that one way or another, Amazon and LivingSocial are splitting the cost. LivingSocial gets new customers. And Amazon.com gets something potentially more valuable: When those customers come to Amazon.com to redeem their certificates, Amazon will be able to track what they buy and potentially correlate that with future LivingSocial purchases.LivingSocial all but promises to do exactly that in its privacy policy, after all:We may provide your Personal Information to third-party service providers who work on behalf of or with us to provide some of the services and features of LivingSocial and to help us communicate with you. Examples of such services include sending email, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing payments (including credit card payments), and providing customer service. We require our third-party service providers to promise not to use such information except as necessary to provide the relevant services to us. We may share some or all of your Personal Information (other than credit card information) with Merchants whose Deals you have purchased for their commercial purposes and to provision the Deal&amp;8230' If you do not want us to use or disclose Personal Information collected about you in the manner identified in this Privacy Policy, you may not use LivingSocial.A gift certificate is valuable. But data That&amp;'s golden. And that&amp;'s what I suspect Amazon.com was really after when it first plunked money into LivingSocial.Next Story: SCI pulls in $15.6M for energy-monitoring of commerical buildings Previous Story: Website transparency is critical when sites FAILPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: daily deals, discounts, e commerce, group buyingCompanies: Amazon.com, Livingsocial          Tags: daily deals, discounts, e commerce, group buyingCompanies: Amazon.com, LivingsocialOwen Thomas is the executive editor of 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[Visa approves this transaction: PlaySpan for $190M]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-approves-this-transaction-playspan-for-190m</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-approves-this-transaction-playspan-for-190m</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-approves-this-transaction-playspan-for-190m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Visa has agreed to buy virtual goods company PlaySpan for $190 million in a big move into the market for digital goods.PlaySpan enables game companies and video publishers to make money through the buying and selling of virtual goods. It&amp;'s a key part of the food chain in the free-to-play business model.In free-to-play, users play online games for free, then pay real money for virtual goods such as better weapons or decorations. PlaySpan enables the game companies to issue virtual currency and create a market for digital goods.PlaySpan will get more money in the deal if it hits performance targets. While the purchase priceitself is not a huge one, given the amount of money that PlaySpan raised, Visa&amp;'s entry into the virtual goods market is a validation of the emerging field.The giant credit card company is a huge player alongside MasterCard in the $948 billion global electronic commerce market. As part of that sector, digital goods has become a $25 billion market on a global basis, according to PwC Global Entertainment. That market could grow to $280 billion by 2014.PlaySpan, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has more than 150 employees and was founded by Karl Mehta, chief executive, based on a business idea that came from his son. The company has hundreds of employees and recently moved into handling transactions for video publishers. It has raised $42M in funding to date, and its investors include Vodaphone Ventures, SoftBank, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, STICPlaySpan has several different businesses layered on top of each other. It provides virtual currency and virtual goods platform,  offloading the task of creating this infrastructure from game developers. It  also provides the UltimatePay payment system that allows game companies to make  money from their virtual goods. And it sells virtual currency Ultimate Game Card  gift cards at 48,000 retailers around the world so that users who dona4a4t have  credit cards can pay cash for the cards at stores and then enter a code to get  virtual currency in a game.About four years ago, there was almost no interest in the platform. But with  the success of virtual goods and micro-transactions in Asia and with the impact  of the recession on U.S. gamers, the virtual goods business has skyrocketed.  Inside Network estimated that virtual goods in social games grew to $1.6  billion in revenues in 2010.PlaySpana4a4s biggest competitors are the internal engineering teams at  big game companies. Mehta said in the past that UltimatePay has gained considerable traction  as users in 180 countries use it to pay for their virtual goods in games.  PlaySpan brings services such as fraud prevention, merchandising, and promotion  to game companies, helping them to squeeze more money out of their games.Millions of gamers are using the Ultimate Game Card and PlaySpana4a4s own  PlaySpan.com marketplace. Tens of millions of gamers are using  PlaySpana4a4s products, and revenues have grown more than 100 percent a year in the  past three years.Among the customers are Warner Bros., Nexon, Perfect World, Hello Kitty  Online, Disney, Adobe, Revision3 and Nickelodeon. Rivals include Live Gamer,  although PlaySpan differs in that it doesna4a4t do custom platforms for its  customers. On the payment side of the business, rivals include PayPal. In game  cards, rivals include InComm.Next Story: My6sense filters Twitter for the most relevant tweets Previous Story: Dell dumps its Macbook Air competitor AdamoPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: digital goods, virtual goodsCompanies: PlaySpan, VisaPeople: Karl Mehta          Tags: digital goods, virtual goodsCompanies: PlaySpan, VisaPeople: Karl MehtaDean 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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