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<title>Haaze.com / Preety01 / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Warren Buffett boosts Iowa wind]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warren-buffett-boosts-iowa-wind</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warren-buffett-boosts-iowa-wind</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warren-buffett-boosts-iowa-wind</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Siemens wind turbines at the Farr Wind Farm located near Inverness, Scotland.(Credit:Siemens)MidAmerican Energy plans to install 593 megawatts worth of wind power in Iowa, the company announced yesterday.The Des Moines, Iowa-based company is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which itself is a listed subsidiary of Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway. About 89 percent of MidAmerican Energy Holdings is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, a MidAmerican spokeswoman told the Associated Press.MidAmerican Energy has signed a deal with Siemens Energy to provide the wind turbines for the project, which will consist of 258 of Siemens' giant 2.3-megawatt wind turbines installed throughout several counties in Iowa by the end of 2011.When complete, the wind turbines will generate enough electricity to power 190,000 homes, according to MidAmerican Energy.As with many ubersized wind projects, the MidAmerican wind complex will be a series of grid-connected wind turbines hosted by landownersrather than one wind farm concentrated to a single geographical location.In addition to the Siemens 2011 installation plans, MidAmerican Energy has signed an asset purchase agreement with RPM Access to buy its Laurel Wind Farm. The Laurel Wind Farm is expected to use 52 Siemens turbines when complete, according to the company.MidAmerican Energy, which claims to have added alternative energy sources to its repertoire without raising customer rates, already has 1,284 megawatts worth of wind generation. With the addition of the Siemens turbines, the company reports that more than 25 percent of its energy will be generated from wind.But not everyone is happy with the prospect of adding even more wind energy to the region.As a result of the increase in wind energy scattered throughout not just Iowa but much of the Midwest from several energy companies, a new transmission line that could carry electricity from the Midwest to the eastern half of the U.S. has been proposed as part of the federal government's attempt to overhaul and modernize the nation's electric grid.The transmission line, which is still in preliminary stages but appears to have federal backing, could cost up to $30 billion long-term. Many utilities and regulators are concerned about the possibility that they may each be legally forced to pay for a portion of the proposed 765-kilovolt transmission line if it gets approved, according to reports from the Des Moines Register.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Previewing Microsoft's Office 365]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=previewing-microsofts-office-365</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=previewing-microsofts-office-365</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=previewing-microsofts-office-365</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft's Office 365, the next piece of a broader play by Microsoft to bring its suite of Office server tools and collaboration work flows onto the cloud, is expected to launch sometime next year.The company is already in the stages of testing it with small businesses and has a list of some 60,000 organizations, which are waiting to get access. In the meantime, Microsoft is continuing to fine-tune the product and expand its testing group--both in scale and the size of the companies that are being allowed in. CNET was lucky enough to get early access to Office 365, which has been designed to work on a number of Web browsers, includingFirefox andSafari--though not yet Chrome, which will work when the product is finalized. Office 365 is also cross-platform, so it works with both Macs and PCs. The good news is that in our brief testing, everything worked as advertised. The bad news is that you can't get it right now, and it's still a long ways off from something that lets you every feature out of the Office ecosystem without installing software. What it is and what it isn'tThe first thing we should say up front is that Google Apps this is not. That's not to disparage the service, which hasn't even hatched yet, rather it's to point out that its core offering takes some of Microsoft's on-premises software tools and hosts them for companies. Microsoft still maintains consumer-facing Office and collaboration tools with its Windows Live services, Docs.com, and Office Web Apps, but Office 365 is a different animal. What that means to the end user is that you get things like a hosted version of Outlook, Sharepoint (which has been nicknamed &quot;Team Site&quot; in the small business Office 365 variant), and Lync--the latest version of the recently rebranded Office Communicator platform--all without having to buy your own servers or worry about keeping them up to date. As such, Microsoft is positioning it as a subscription service that runs anywhere from $2 to $27 per user per month, depending on what size of a company you're running and what services you decide to include. Notably absent from Office 365's overall interface is Microsoft's suite of Office Web Apps, which is where many of those comparisons to Google Docs have centered. The Office Web Apps only take center stage when working in the hosted version of SharePoint, where shared documents can be viewed and edited in its Office Web App counterpart. If you actually want to create something, there's still a reliance on having to have the Office software, or go off to the Office Web apps site itself, where users can save to their SharePoint.Microsoft's current alternative for this is to send small-business users to its Office Web Apps site to do things like pen documents and put together presentations, while those who subscribe to a particular Office 365 tier can opt in for a subscription of Microsoft's Office 2010 plus software that can be installed locally, which ties into things like the Office 365 Team Site and Outlook through the Backstage menu in Office applications. The net result of all of this is that Office 365 is not yet quite the true jump to a cohesive set of all of Microsoft's services, gone online and tied together in a way where you can hop from task to task between different 365 components. There is still an incredible reliance on the software itself, which is bound to change down the road, but for now makes basic workflows like creating a document and getting feedback from team members a hybrid experience, or one that involves juggling products. It's getting cloudy The core of Office 365's UI centers on breaking up the hosted services into three chunks: home, Outlook, and Team Site. The links to these items stay the same no matter what you're doing, except if you hop over to Team Site, which jettisons you off to your own Sharepoint site. Office 365&amp;39's home screen lets you hop to Outlook and your team&amp;39's &amp;34'Home Site.&amp;34'(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Of the bunch, one of the most obvious draws is the the hosted version of Exchange, which companies can move all their mail to, or run alongside on-premises deployments. In our preview with it, the Web client of Outlook was fast loading and had a few nice tricks up its sleeve, like letting you open up Office attachments in a pop-up Window--something that's quite useful if you're on a public computer that does not have Office installed. It's also keyboard shortcut friendly, letting you cruise through a large group of unread messages.Outlook&amp;39's Web app shouldn&amp;39't look all that different from what people are used to. Users get all the usual trimmings like e-mail, calendars, and contacts.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)We couldn't perform a large-scale test on Lync, formerly known as Office Communicator, but we got a thorough demo last week as part of its launch. Lync is Microsoft's an instant messaging system with presence' an audio and video conferencing tool' and a voice call service. By design this is something that users install and run locally, so it sits outside of whatever software program you're using, though over time it's been built into more and more facets of the Office software. How Lync translates to the Web experience is that users can get a slightly less capable version of it inside a browser window--all without having to install the software client. This has been implemented with a presence setting you can toggle that stays with you in both Office 365's home screen and Outlook, so if you're busy working on something, you can make a note of it from your inbox. You're also able to chat in the hosted Outlook Web app with anyone who is online.One thing that was not yet available for a spin was Lync's planned client for Windows Phone 7 and theiPhone. This would let you see people's presence, and chat from your phone. When combined with Microsoft's Office software on Windows Phone 7, this will open things up for a more cohesive hand-off for people going back and forth between a computer and a phone. The third branch of Office 365 is the Team Site, which should be quite familiar to SharePoint users, as it's got the same exact features and workflows. It's also one of the places where Office 365 shows its strengths, since you can get into a shared group of documents and very quickly give them a read and an edit in the same place without leaving the page to go off to some other property. This is what a cohesive Web office experience should feel like, though like we mentioned earlier, it still feels like its on its own island instead of being more tightly knit with the Office 365 start page, and Outlook client.  Team Sites should also not look too unfamiliar to SharePoint users. (Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Not so cloudy, yetWhile really impressive, there are still some questions over Microsoft's vision of making Office 365 less of a jump-off point for its software and more of a one-stop solution for getting things done from any computer, anywhere. Some of these issues have been alleviated, though in most cases, it depends on what tool you're in and how you're using it.Another issue--though one that is arguably of smaller concern as a growing number of devices have gotten an always-on Internet connection--is that Office 365 still relies on an active connection to use it. Microsoft's trump card in this respect is that unlike Google, it's already got the software part of the equation taken care of, so that work can be done locally when need be. The only problem comes when you're asking people to jump between those two experiences. It also puts into question the utility of the package for workers who want to go software-free, yet stay as mobile as possible. These items are likely to be addressed as the platform grows. In the meantime, it's worth looking at Office 365 for what it is, which is Microsoft continuing to move some of the very complicated pieces of its Office software ecosystem into the cloud--in part to make it easier for businesses large and small to get going. The Office software itself is a separate part of the equation--one that's well on its way in that direction. Updated at 10:15 a.m. PDT to include additional pricing information, and clarification about SharePoint's nickname for the small business edition of the Office 365 product. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[T-Mobile introduces new tethering plan, plus promotional packages]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-introduces-new-tethering-plan-plus-promotional-packages</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-introduces-new-tethering-plan-plus-promotional-packages</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-introduces-new-tethering-plan-plus-promotional-packages</guid>
<description><![CDATA[T-Mobile has announced that it will implement its $14.99 monthly unlimited tethering and mobile Wi-Fi hot-spot plan starting November 14. This will be on top of any data plan you purchase, and the phone must support this feature in the first place. Right now those phones include the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G, the T-Mobile G2, and the LG Optimus T, with more devices to come as firmware updates get rolled out. At the same time, T-Mobile is offering the 200MB data plan for $10 a month, but bear in mind that tethering won't work with it. In time for the holidays, T-Mobile is also offering two promotional plans--one for individuals, and one for families. The individual Even More package has 1,500 voice minutes, unlimited messaging, unlimited T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile calls, and unlimited data for $80 a month. The family plan has the same features except it has 3,000 voice minutes instead, and will cost $150 a month. Both plans require new contracts, and there's no word on when the promotion will end. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Monitor tech: Panel technology and you]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monitor-tech-panel-technology-and-you</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monitor-tech-panel-technology-and-you</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=monitor-tech-panel-technology-and-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Samsung PX2370 is the current top-performing TN monitor.(Credit:Josh P. Miller/CNET)It recently occurred to me (thanks to a few e-mails I've received in the last few months) that many people shopping for monitors are completely unaware of the panel technology driving them and how it affects, not only their buying experience, but their user experience as well. If you've read our Monitor Buying Guide then you're aware of the different types of panels your monitor can house. If you haven't read it, I certainly recommend you do, but if you'd actually like to get some work done today, you can get a small piece of it here.The three main panel technologies currently used in modern LCDs are: Twisted Nematic (TN), Vertical Alignment (VA), and In-Plane Switching (IPS).TNManufactures make the vast majority of consumer monitors using TN panels. So, not surprising, TN panels are the cheapest of the three technologies to make. With a few exceptions, monitors that cost $300 or less will likely have TN panels.The main advantages of TN panels are their fast--usually 2ms--response time and, of course, low price. Their major disadvantages are narrow viewing angles, relatively low brightness (usually), and inaccurate color reproduction. CNET's top TN monitors:Samsung PX2370Samsung SyncMaster XL2370Dell SP2309WA low-angle view of CNET.com on the NEC MultiSync E321W, which uses a TN panel.(Credit:Eric Franklin/CNET)VANext up are VA (mostly seen as S-PVA) panels. VAs have improved viewing angles compared with TNs, better color reproduction, and they typically have a much higher maximum brightness. Also, they tend to have the lowest black levels of all three panel technologies.Unfortunately, a VA panel's response time and input lag are not quite as fast as a TN panel and they can cost anywhere from $400 to $800, and sometimes more depending on the panel's size. Also, you can expect a VA-based monitor's profile to be wider than a TN's. Ultimately, VA's are much rarer than either TN or IPS in consumer monitors. CNET's top VA monitors:HP LP2275wNEC MultiSync P221WSamsung SyncMaster F2380IPSLastly, we have IPS. IPS-based monitors are usually the most expensive' however, the new e-IPS panels cost as little as $300 for a 22-inch model. They also have the best viewing angles of all three technologies and produce the most-accurate colors' however, their blacks are not as deep as on VA panels.IPS monitors are the slowest of the bunch in both response time and input lag. CNET's top IPS monitors:Dell UltraSharp U2711NEC MultiSync PA271WHP DreamColor LP2480zxThe Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP uses an IPS panel and has a much better lower-viewing angle than the aforementioned NEC.(Credit:Eric Franklin/CNET)With each monitor review I've done in the last year and a half or so, I've mentioned the type of panel the monitor uses' however, if you're interested in discovering what types of panels other monitors use, check out the panel search feature on TFT Central.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the GreenBeat: Sierra Club sues over solar plant, LDK Solar takes $33 million stake in Solar Power]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-sierra-club-sues-over-solar-plant-ldk-solar-takes-33-million-stake-in-solar-power</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-sierra-club-sues-over-solar-plant-ldk-solar-takes-33-million-stake-in-solar-power</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-sierra-club-sues-over-solar-plant-ldk-solar-takes-33-million-stake-in-solar-power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Here&amp;'s the latest action we&amp;'re following today on the GreenBeat:Sierra Club sues California regulators over solar plant &amp;8212' The suit alleges that the California Energy Commission improperly approved the Calico solar project, recently sold by Tessera Solar to developer K Road, Reuters reports. The suit alleges the project would have a negative impact on rare plant and animal species. Greentech Media argues the potential danger to wildlife outweighs the benefits of getting more renewable energy online.LDK Solar acquires 70 percent stake in Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) &amp;8211' The Chinese manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers announced it has taken a $33 million stake in solar project developer SPI. The deal should create demand for LDK&amp;'s modules by offering up Solar Power&amp;'s portfolio of projects (pictured, left). It shows the burgeoning LDK wants to follow in the footsteps of heavyweights like First Solar and Sharp by buying up or creating solar projects that will fuel demand for its products.Ineos Bio nabs $75 million loan guarantee from USDA &amp;8212' The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the loan guarantee to Ineos Bio and its joint venture partner New Planet Energy. The money will go to the construction of a biofuels plant in Florida, which will have a capacity of eight million gallons and churn out ethanol produced from vegetative waste.Coda raises $76 million towards pre-IPO round &amp;8212' The electric car startup announced it has raised $76 million of a planned $125 million in what should be the companya4a4s final round of financing before it tries for an IPO. Its first car ever, the Coda sedan, it slated to launch in the second half of next year.Global car executives skeptical on affordable electric vehicles &amp;8212' Most automotive executives don&amp;'t think there will be a &amp;''reasonably priced&amp;'' electric vehicle available to the masses in the next five years, according to a survey conducted by KPMG. They also don&amp;'t think the cars would be affordable without government subsidies, but see the electric vehicle segment as the fastest growing one in the market, the BBC reports.Ambient taps into $5 million company reserves &amp;8212' The smart grid communications infrastructure company announced it has converted a $5 million &amp;''holdback account&amp;'' to company cash to strengthen its balance sheet. The company said it made the move to prepare for &amp;''new strategic and market opportunities in 2011.&amp;'' The account was created in 2009 as something of a rainy day fund. Ambient says it grew throughout 2010 and has a strong backlog of orders.AQT announces plans for second thin-film manufacturing plant &amp;8212' The new facility is slated to go into production by the start of 2012 and to eventually grow to 1 gigawatt of capacity by the end of 2014. It will expand the company&amp;'s current capacity this year by 30 to 40 megawatts to help fill the AQT&amp;'s backlog of 160 megawatts. AQT makes thin-film CIGS cells, so named for their ingredients of cadmium, indium, gallium and selenide.Chevrolet Volt gets Powermat wireless device charger &amp;8212' The Volt (pictured) will be among the first of GM&amp;'s cars to get the mats installed, which will allow electronics like iPods and smartphones to be charged wirelessly. (Which is cool, but not as cool as being able to charge an entire electric car wirelessly.) GM announced it would invest $5 million in Powermat through its venture capital arm.First Solar moves ahead to build 2 gigawatts of plants in China &amp;8212' The industry leader has signed a memorandum of understanding withChina Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development Co. to develop the first phase, a 30-megawatt undertaking. The project will be built in China&amp;'s Inner Mongolia. It hopes to start construction in 2011, Earth2Tech reports.Wheego&amp;'s LiFe gets EPA approval &amp;8212' The startup electric carmaker will next need to pass safety ratings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Once it does so, it can begin delivering vehicles to buyers, the Wall Street Journal reports.Next Story: Test-prep company Knewton takes online courses to next level: university Previous Story: Deals &amp;038' More: Cloudpic gets $6M to bring global artists together, RootMusic raises $2.3M to help musicians reach new fansPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Coda sedan, electric cars, electric vehicles, LiFe, Solar, thin-film, VoltCompanies: Ambient, AQT, AQT Solar, Chevrolet, Coda, First Solar, GM, KPMG, Solar Power Inc., Wheego          Tags: Coda sedan, electric cars, electric vehicles, LiFe, Solar, thin-film, VoltCompanies: Ambient, AQT, AQT Solar, Chevrolet, Coda, First Solar, GM, KPMG, Solar Power Inc., WheegoIris 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[Interview With Twitter&'s Evan Williams At Web 2.0 Summit&nbsp'(VIDEO)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=interview-with-twitterrsquos-evan-williams-at-web-2-0-summitnbspvideo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=interview-with-twitterrsquos-evan-williams-at-web-2-0-summitnbspvideo</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=interview-with-twitterrsquos-evan-williams-at-web-2-0-summitnbspvideo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In case you missed it, here&amp;'s the video of yesterday&amp;'s Web 2.0 Summit interview with Evan Williams on Twitter&amp;'s relationship with Facebook, developers and the Twitter firehose, newtwitter, the million ways Twitter will make eventually make money and Williams&amp;' recently stepping down as a CEO. &amp;''It&amp;'s kind of a sucky job,&amp;'' he said.Enjoy.CrunchBase InformationEvan WilliamsTwitterInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Want To Watch The Web 2.0 Summit From Home Here&'s The&nbsp'Livestream]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=want-to-watch-the-web-2-0-summit-from-home-herersquos-thenbsplivestream</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=want-to-watch-the-web-2-0-summit-from-home-herersquos-thenbsplivestream</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=want-to-watch-the-web-2-0-summit-from-home-herersquos-thenbsplivestream</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Watch live streaming video from web20tv at livestream.comFor the next three days the entire Internet will descend upon San Francisco&amp;'s Palace Hotel for the 2o10a4sWeb 2.0 Summit. In case you&amp;'re not already here, you can watch all the action from the Livestream above, which notably is the first time the elite event will be shown for free on the small screen. For those that have their passes (or their boss&amp;' passes) and still need to get over here, here&amp;'s the speaker schedule .Today&amp;'s highlights have included Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Square&amp;'s Keith Rabois. Coming up on deck are such luminaries as Zynga&amp;'s Marc Pincus, author Steven Berlin Johnson and Icanhascheezburger&amp;'s Ben Huh.CrunchBase InformationO&amp;039'Reilly MediaInformation provided by CrunchBase&amp;nbsp'<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Exclusive: Apple, Google Are Sniffing Around Mobile Payments Startup&nbsp'BOKU]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=exclusive-apple-google-are-sniffing-around-mobile-payments-startupnbspboku</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=exclusive-apple-google-are-sniffing-around-mobile-payments-startupnbspboku</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=exclusive-apple-google-are-sniffing-around-mobile-payments-startupnbspboku</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Both Apple and Google are engaged in conversations with mobile payments startup BOKU about a potential acquisition or a wide-reaching partnership at the very least, we&amp;'ve heard from people familiar with the talks, which are ongoing.BOKU President and CEO Mark Britto and co-founder Ron Hirson have held multiple meetings with executives at the helm of Apple&amp;'s iPhone business in the course of the past 3 weeks.  Neither one would comment on the rumors.Furthermore, BOKU has also engaged in high-level meetings with Google, namely with Director of Engineering Michael Morrissey, who oversees developments for Google Mobile Services for Android (which includes the Android Market app store).  BOKU already can be used for in-app purchases for Android apps.Our sources are unable to confirm whether Google is also exploring an outright acquisition of the mobile payments startup at this point, like its Cupertino-based rival is, but there&amp;'s clearly some serious sniffing going on here from both the Apple and Google camps.Could these talks be a prelude to an AdMob-style bidding war between the pairIt&amp;'s too early to tell.  But like the AdMob purchase, a potential M&amp;amp'A deal would involve a transaction for a nine-digit sum according to one source. We are unable to pinpoint an exact price at this stage of the negotiations, but our source says Apple, for one, could end up spending at least $250 million (and up to $450 million) to acquire BOKU.  That would be pocket change for Apple (which has $50 billion in cash), but not for BOKU or its investors.  Last January, BOKU raised a large round at a valuation well north of $100 million.We should note that nothing has been signed yet, and that the discussions with Apple and Google are at an early stage, so there&amp;'s a chance for any deal to ultimately fall through.  But at the very least these talks suggests that both companies are exploring how to become more serious about mobile payments.BOKU competes with startups such as Zong and Fortumo in the burgeoning mobile payments space. Armed with $38 million in funding from a slew of big-name investors such as Benchmark Capital, Khosla Ventures, Index Ventures, DAG Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, the company aims to allow tens of millions of people across the globe to pay for digital goods and social experiences across the Web using their mobile phones.BOKU makes for an interesting acquisition target because of its global carrier relationships, which the startup claims gives it a reach of over 1.6 billion consumers around the world. Apple is probably more interested in its talent, technology and presence in growth marketsa4&quot;mobile payments, virtual goods and social app payments (and to keep them away from Google).Just last week, BOKU (and other startups) struck a deal with AT&amp;amp'T that lets subscribers buy music, movies and other digital goods by typing in their phone number instead of using a bank card or PayPal account. It reached a similar agreement with Vodafone UK a few weeks ago.Ron Hirson, one of the cofounders of the company, told us back in a July video interview (embedded below) that BOKU would expand beyond digital goods over time.BOKU was formed through the acquisition of once-competitors Paymo and Mobillcash back in 2009 and, as mentioned above, is led by Mark Britto.This wouldn&amp;'t be Britto&amp;'s first exit: he sold Accept.com to Amazon.com in 1999 and Ingenio, a pay-per-call and performance advertising company, to AT&amp;amp'T in 2007.Update: Read more analysis here.                  runMobileCompatibilityScript(''myExperience111759064001'')'CrunchBase InformationBOKUAppleGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Democratizing Talent Part 2: To Claire' From&nbsp'Sonny]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=democratizing-talent-part-2-to-claire-fromnbspsonny</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=democratizing-talent-part-2-to-claire-fromnbspsonny</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=democratizing-talent-part-2-to-claire-fromnbspsonny</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This guest post was submitted by SGN founder and Executive Chairman, Shervin Pishevar. The entrepreneur and angel investor was founding president of Webs.com, a co-founder of Hotprints and Hyperoffice and has made several investments, including Nowmov, Aardvark, Thread.com, Gowalla, and Qwiki.So I just logged into my email tonight and I see this email titled: Super Talent. The writer is a casting director from Romania who now lives in London. She&amp;'s worked on a number of movies with great directors like Spike Jonze. The email reads:I&amp;'ve found you through this TechCrunch article  a4s&amp;''Democratizing Talent: Guy Oseary, Greyson Chance, NowMov, IndieGoGo  and the Future of Talent.&amp;'' Thank you very much, it was an inspiration  for me . I wrote about it on my blog too.Following your story, I&amp;'ve discovered this brilliant filmmaker and  composer: Josh Beattie.He has 17 years and I think he is GENIUS. If someone would invest a  small amount of money in this kid he would be the a4snext big Hollywood  film director. If you can recommend Josh to your super agent friends, it  would be fantastic.Thank you very much for reading this email.Kind regards,Andreea  TanasescuI click on the short film, To Clair' From Sonny, half expecting not to be impressed. Instead, I am floored by this 17-year-old director, Josh Beattie. Working with a few friends, Josh uses regular equipment, like an SLR camera and even composes his own music.Josh and his friends posted this video in September 2010 and now the world is starting to notice. They have done amazing work and are an inspiration to so many others.Democratizing talent is fueled by wider and cheaper access to technology, information and the ability to broadcast and distribute human innovation and creativity to the whole world with optimal efficiency. Let all the walls fall down and we all rise up.In my essay, Democratizing Talent, I concluded:There are countless others in so many fields who are waiting to be  discovered. He might be coding away in a tiny apartment in Moscow. She  might be writing the next great novel in Buenos Aires. Hea4a4s composing  the next great classical sonata in Karachi. He might be designing the  next great wave of architecture in Tehran. She might be painting her way  to the next Picasso. Hea4a4s discovering a cure for a cancer in Kenya.The better we can incubate the worlda4a4s talent and the better we can  broadcast those talents to each other the faster we can progress and  inspire each other forward.  Or as the lyrics to the Paparazzi song say:We are the crowdWea4a4re a co-comingReady for those flashing lightsBaby, therea4a4s no other superstara4I obviously left out the boy in Australia who will be the next great director. I&amp;'m excited to discover all the other amazing talents I left out around the world.CrunchBase InformationShervin PishevarInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook Weeks Away From Launching New Games&nbsp'Portal]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We are hearing reports that Facebook is weeks away from launching a new, redesigned dedicated gaming portal. Details are sparse at this point, but the portal will present a new, more feature rich way to both find games and play games within the social network. We are told that Facebook will launch the portal with a number of game publishers as partners. With 200 million Facebook users playing games on the site monthly (or 40% of its userbase), it&amp;'s not surprising that Facebook is ramping up its gaming initiatives. The company alluded to launching a new dashboard at its gaming press event held in September, with the social network&amp;'s product manager for the games team Jared Morganstern telling the press that there will be a wave of innovation around the dashboard. At that time, Facebook announced changes with gaming applications in relation to the news feed and bookmarks. Earlier in the year, the social network launched an updated Games dashboard for users but we&amp;'re told that this new platform will be a centralized place for users to both find and play games. While we don&amp;'t know who the partners are at launch, we can only assume that Facebook would want to have the game publishers who attract the most traffic (i.e. Zynga, Playdom) on board for a new portal. We understand that Facebook will announce a number of initial partners at launch and will steadily be adding partners along the way as well.We hear the launch of the platform is slated for mid-November. We&amp;'ve reached out to Facebook for comment and we&amp;'ll update the post when we hear back. Update: A spokesperson for Facebook responded to us with this: As we announced in September, we have a games team working on building features to make it easier for people to discover and re-engage with games. We have nothing further to share at this time. That&amp;'s not a denial, so I&amp;'m pretty sure something is in the works. CrunchBase InformationFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Jam-packed CES draws more than 140,000 visitors to Vegas]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jam-packed-ces-draws-more-than-140000-visitors-to-vegas</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jam-packed-ces-draws-more-than-140000-visitors-to-vegas</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jam-packed-ces-draws-more-than-140000-visitors-to-vegas</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, known as CES, was a blow-out success with more than 140,000 attendees, according to preliminary figures released tonight.The 140,000-figure is 10 percent above the 126,000 attendees for the January 2010 show. CES is the biggest technology trade show in the world. It&amp;'s a great barometer for the health of the $900 billion-plus tech economy and it offers the best glimpse into the future of tech gadgets and services coming in the new year.With the bigger crowd came logistical woes. Everybody complained about how it was harder to get around the show. The wireless networks went down. At my hotel, the wireless never worked and I had to rely on slow 3G connections. Lucky bastards like Nick Wingfield, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, had the new 4G network access at speeds of 18 megabits a second. During keynote speeches, I could barely load photos, let alone videos. That experience certainly makes me want to get 4G, which was one of the prevailing uber technologies of the Las Vegas show.More than 2,700 technologies showed off their wares to the visitors, which included more than 30,000 international attendees. The show concluded today after preliminary events that started as early as Tuesday.Past shows reflected the depth of the recession. In 2009, attendance was 113,085. In 2008, it was 141,150 in 2008. The biggest year in the past five years was 152,203 in 2006. The consequence of the success this year was clear on the personal level. It took a long time to leave the convention center when the day was over. The cab lines were long. The press conferences were often standing-room only. It was tough to navigate through the aisles. By late Saturday, however, it was a ghost town.Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the show, said that the gathering feature more news and social media buzz than any other show in history. The show tracked 158,000 CES-related tweets since Monday. CEA will conduct an independent audit of the attendance and final figures will be available this spring.More than 80 tablet computers debuted at the show. Besides 4G, other big themes included connected TVs, smart appliances and electric vehicles. Among the news makers were Microsoft&amp;'s Steve Ballmer, Verizona4a4s Ivan Seidenberg, Audi&amp;'s Rupert Stadler, Samsung&amp;'s Boo-Keun Yoon, Ford&amp;'s Alan Mulally, Netflix&amp;'s Reed Hastings, Cisco&amp;'s John Chambers, Xerox&amp;'s Ursula Burns and GE&amp;'s Jeffrey Immelt.Previous Story: WowWee&amp;'s Cinemin Slice projector cashes in on iPad popularity (video)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Gary ShapiroCompanies: CES, CES 2011, Consumer Electronics Show          Tags: Gary ShapiroCompanies: CES, CES 2011, Consumer Electronics ShowDean 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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