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<title>Haaze.com / Torrie / All</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 2011 07:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[For AT&T merger, Sprint dusts off its Christmas list]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-att-merger-sprint-dusts-off-its-christmas-list</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-att-merger-sprint-dusts-off-its-christmas-list</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 2011 07:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-att-merger-sprint-dusts-off-its-christmas-list</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It's called &quot;regulation by merger condition.&quot; And at the Federal Communications Commission, it's a problem that has become epidemic. As part of a drawn-out process the agency follows for approving proposed mergers in the communications industry (where it shares review authority with the Department of Justice), companies are persuaded to volunteer or are sometimes simply forced into accepting pages and pages of conditions that limit the merged entities' operating flexibility for years to come.  In part, the voluntary conditions are offered just to get the process moving. Though the FCC is required to complete its review in 180 days, it has the power to stop the clock at will--a power it exercises with abandon.Many of the conditions have nothing to do with the merger itself. Instead, the FCC uses its leverage to impose sweeping new regulations it wants but doesn't have congressional authority or the political will to pass on its own. It's like Christmas all year at the FCC.Among other fallout, &quot;regulation by merger condition&quot; has left behind a minefield of different rules and restrictions for different companies in the same business, some longer-lived than others. Recent examples of this embarrassment include the 2005 merger of SBC and AT&amp;T, the 2008 XM-Sirius satellite radio deal (which took 16 months to &quot;review&quot;), and, most notoriously, last year's approval of Comcast's takeover of NBC Universal. The nearly 200-page order (PDF) in the Comcast case included dozens of unrelated conditions, such as requirements for Comcast to add more children's programming on Telemundo, staying out of any decision making in its partly-owned Internet start-up Hulu, and living with the commission's Net neutrality rules even if Congress or the courts ultimately reject them. These were in addition to &quot;voluntary&quot; conditions Comcast offered during the course of the year-long review.This regulatory feeding frenzy led the FCC's two Republican commissioners to call for a complete overhaul of the merger review process. &quot;While many of these commitments may serve as laudable examples of good corporate citizenship,&quot; the two wrote in a joint concurrence to the Comcast order, &quot;most are not even arguably related to the underlying transaction.&quot;Competitors now getting in on the funBut apparently we ain't seen nothing yet. In the early days of what will likely be an even longer and more coercive review of AT&amp;T's proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, there are already signs that not only the FCC, but some of AT&amp;T's competitors would like to use the merger to settle old scores and extract concessions for themselves. In recent testimony before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, for example, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse dusted off his Christmas list and began reading it to Congress, hoping that the FCC will ultimately answer his letter to Santa.Case in point: Hesse wants the merger blocked or at least crippled with regard to AT&amp;T's cellular backhaul services. What is backhaul Briefly, after cellular voice and data traffic travels from your mobile device to a cell tower, it must be offloaded to a high-speed network to reach its destination on the Internet or the telephone network. As cellular networks explode with data traffic, backhaul transport (or &quot;special access&quot; as it's known in industry jargon) is increasingly important to ensure overall performance.Hesse complained that AT&amp;T and Verizon together control most of the backhaul market(PDF). Today, Hesse says, Sprint pays $2 billion a year for backhaul, at prices that are &quot;very very high.&quot; If the merger is approved, according to Hesse, &quot;Two companies would control most of the nation's wire line infrastructure and the critical last mile that Sprint and the rest of the industry need to provide affordable rates and quality service.&quot; Facts don't support Sprint's claims on backhaul non-competitionSprint, it seems, wants to use merger review to get itself lower prices for backhaul. But Hesse is wrong on the facts and wrong in his conclusion. First, the backhaul market is competitive and growing quickly. Besides AT&amp;T and Verizon, wireline backhaul services are offered by a variety of other companies including CenturyLink and cable providers Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable. Comcast is projecting $1 billion in backhaul revenue.And backhaul is provided by other technologies, including microwave and Ethernet. There are many providers here, including AboveNet, AirBand, Windstream, Level 3, and XO Communications. Indeed, in some markets Verizon is now buying microwave backhaul from Level 3.Or consider Clearwire, a 4G WiMax pioneer that is majority-owned by Sprint. According to the company's CEO, Clearwire's network relies on microwave for 90 percent of its backhaul needs(PDF). And in many cases, Clearwire shares cell towers with Sprint. Neither AT&amp;T nor Verizon offer microwave backhaul. Of course no one is forcing Sprint to buy backhaul service from its competitors. While others in the communications industry have invested billions in new fiber, cable and copper upgrades, and other infrastructure, Sprint has stuck to wireless. Sprint made a strategic choice to lease rather than build backhaul capacity. If the company now regrets that decision, it's hardly the role of the FCC to bail them out. Hesse claims that AT&amp;T and Verizon earn &quot;enormous profits&quot; on backhaul, though the exact prices and costs are conveniently kept secret within the industry. But if huge profits are there to be made, why doesn't Sprint build its own infrastructure In part, the answer is that the company is doing just that. Late last year, Sprint announced a $5 billion initiative it calls Network Vision, which the company describes as &quot;multimode technology to enhance service--coverage, quality and speed--create network flexibility, reduce operating costs and improve environmental sustainability.&quot; This innovative approach is likely to reduce Sprint's reliance on backhaul providers.Backhaul won't be affected by merger in any caseBut let's assume for the moment that Sprint is at the mercy of AT&amp;T and Verizon for mobile backhaul. What does that have to do with the T-Mobile deal T-Mobile does not sell backhaul service of any kind. For its own needs, the company relies almost exclusively on Ethernet. So T-Mobile is neither a customer of AT&amp;T nor a competitor in the backhaul business.The merger of AT&amp;T and T-Mobile USA, in other words, would have absolutely no impact on the competitive landscape for backhaul, nor on current or future prices. So why does Sprint think this is a relevant issue for Congress and the FCC to consider in its review of the mergerThe answer is clear, if depressing. Sprint is hoping the agency will force conditions on the merger that will improve its own bottom line. In this case, though the company didn't say so directly, it appears Sprint wants the FCC to return to its long-abandoned role as regulator of backhaul rates and conditions, at least as far as AT&amp;T is concerned. (Verizon would continue to charge market prices--at least until its next merger review.)What Sprint is suggesting goes beyond &quot;regulation by merger condition.&quot; This is wholesale regulatory arbitrage based on unrelated and inaccurate facts.And no doubt this is just one of what will surely be a record haul of red herrings by Sprint and others. The FCC's merger review process is already so befuddled, why not co-opt it for their own gainMerger review process is what needs correctingIn the end, the demands of AT&amp;T's competitors, special interest groups, and perhaps suppliers and customers, will add up to nothing less than an attempt to restructure the communications industry and needle the FCC into acting beyond its authority. Perhaps it is time for serious regulatory reform--the last major rewrite of U.S. communications law, after all, was passed in 1996. But that is a decision for Congress, not the FCC, to make. And certainly not in the course of reviewing a pending transaction.If something urgently needs to be brought under control, it's the FCC's merger review process. Until then, competitors, interest groups, and everyone else who wants to take advantage of the merger review free-for-all will keep adding to their Christmas lists. Before looking in their stockings, though, these kids better hope the FCC doesn't ask if they've been naughty or nice.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Samsung's cheapest 3D LED thin, rich with style]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsungs-cheapest-3d-led-thin-rich-with-style</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsungs-cheapest-3d-led-thin-rich-with-style</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsungs-cheapest-3d-led-thin-rich-with-style</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The ultra-minimalist Samsung UND6400 is one of the coolest-looking TVs we&amp;39've ever seen.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET) Samsung's UND6400 occupies an upper-middle-class station in the company's extensive LED-based LCD lineup for 2011. It's the least expensive model to deliver 3D, gets the full Smart TV suite of Internet options--aside from the browser and QWERTY remote--and flaunts a fetchingly thin bezel and minimal design aesthetic second only to its significantly more expensive linemates such as the UND7000. Meanwhile if you don't mind a thicker bezel, want to boycott 3D and save $100 in the process, the UND6300 series is one alternative.The D6400, for its part, is still pretty expensive, but it justifies its high sticker price with solid picture quality, beating out most edge-lit LED models including the equivalent Samsung from last year. It certainly has its flaws, but all told it occupies a sweet spot for LED and Internet TV shoppers who don't want to take out a second mortgage to pay for a flagship model. Samsung UND6400 series (photos) Read the full review of the Samsung UND6400 series.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Survey: People can't live without high-speed Internet]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-people-cant-live-without-high-speed-internet</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-people-cant-live-without-high-speed-internet</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-people-cant-live-without-high-speed-internet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[High-speed Internet is the technology that's had the greatest impact on society and the one that people say they can't live without, according to survey results from Zogby Interactive.Released this week, Zogby's study found that 28 percent of those polled tagged broadband Internet as the one technology they can't live without' e-mail came in second at 18 percent. Facebook was lower on the overall list at only 3 percent, but among the younger crowd (18-24), 15 percent said they can't live without Facebook.Looking at technologies that have had the greatest impact on society over the past 10 years, 24 percent named high-speed Internet, followed closely by Facebook at 22 percent. Google came in third at 10 percent.The results also varied based on gender and age.Women and adults under 55 tagged Facebook as having the most impact, while men and those over 55 pointed to high-speed Internet. Adults between 35 and 54 were split pretty evenly between the two. People from 18-24 found Facebook the most impactful technology of the past decade, with Google in second place.Zogby also asked people to gaze into the future to offer predictions for the next year and the next decade.Many (24 percent of those polled) believe the greatest technological advancements for 2011 will be in home entertainment, with general computing in second place.Looking further down the road, 43 percent of those surveyed believe science will make regular use of stem cells and cloning to create human organs for transplant by the year 2020. Forty percent think that computer chips will be implanted in people to monitor their health. The same percentage expect robots to be able to perform manual labor jobs. And 36 percent see virtual reality making its way into home entertainment by the end of the decade.To compile the study, Zogby polled 1,950 adults from December 8 through December 10.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple MacBook gains are others' losses]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-macbook-gains-are-others-losses</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-macbook-gains-are-others-losses</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-macbook-gains-are-others-losses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If the new MacBooks are the &quot;future of notebooks,&quot; as Apple CEO Steve Jobs proclaimed, that future is off to a good start. For Apple, that is. New MacBook Air(Credit:Apple)ChangeWave Research said this week that Apple is seeing a surge of interest in its MacBooks, driven by the two MacBook Air lines announced in October. A whopping 36 percent of buyers planning to buy laptops say they'll purchase a MacBook, a jump of 11 points since a previous survey a month ago, ChangeWave said. &quot;Simply put, it's the highest level of planned laptop buying ever for Apple in a ChangeWave survey,&quot; the market researcher said. The plus for Apple is a minus for others. The percentage of consumers who say they'll purchase a Dell laptop has dropped 4 points to 19 percent, since last month, while Hewlett-Packard is also down 4 points to 22 percent, according to ChangeWave. Apple's new ultralight MacBook Air models are in demand.(Credit:ChangeWave Research)Netbooks are also suffering. Those tiny 10-inch laptops plummeted 10 points in the last 18 months to 14 percent of those planning to buy a laptop, said ChangeWave.And Apple seems to be benefiting across the board, extending the brand's appeal to personal gadgets and home entertainment. &quot;In terms of individual electronics items, theApple iPad Tablet is the clear monster hit this holiday season, with 9 percent saying they'll buy one in the next 90 days,&quot; according to ChangeWave. The only category topping the iPad is digital cameras, at 12 percent. In related news, Apple's worldwide shipments of MacBooks in the fourth quarter are expected to reach a monthly average of 1 million units, with MacBook Air models accounting for 20 percent to 25 percent of the volume, according to Digitimes, citing sources at laptop component suppliers. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Melinda Gates: No Apple products in my house]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=melinda-gates-no-apple-products-in-my-house</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=melinda-gates-no-apple-products-in-my-house</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:22:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=melinda-gates-no-apple-products-in-my-house</guid>
<description><![CDATA[How should one bring up children Should one give them everything for which they ask Or should one make them understand very early in life that some things are bad for them, whether it is physically or psychologicallyThis flight of philosophical depth comes to me on reading an interview in the New York Times with Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft's Bill.I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, admire or attempt to plait my eyebrows. You see, the interviewer offered her questions about Apple. The first was quite amusing: &quot;Do you own aniPod, which is made by Apple&quot; When I read this i was overcome with a feeling that Halloween had come early. Melinda Gates needs to be told that the iPod is made by Apple Might this phraseology not have made her shiver tooStill, her reply was sturdily corporate: &quot;No, I have aZune.&quot;The interviewer persisted on pushing the buttons of Melinda Gates and her Zuneiness: &quot;What if one of your children says, 'Mom, I have to have an iPod'&quot;For those who have never seen one, this is a Zune.(Credit:CC Robert Nelson/Flickr)Again I was disturbed by this phraseology. Do kids really say &quot;I have to have&quot; Or might they still have a tinge of human politeness and offer &quot;Please can I have&quot; Gates again offered a corporately correct response: &quot;I have gotten that argument--'You may have a Zune.'&quot;Note the enormously polite use of &quot;may&quot; in response to the alleged &quot;I have to have&quot;.The interviewer was not to be deterred. She asked Gates whether she owned aniPad (&quot;Of course not&quot;). Gates denied that her husband works on an Apple laptop. &quot;False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep,&quot; she said.This curious interview of domestic manners reached its highest note when the interviewer asked: &quot;Isn't there room in this world for both Apple and Microsoft&quot; Really. Isn't that like asking someone whether there's room for rabbits and porcupines Voles and raccoonsBut the response might suggest to some that this interview was being conducted via Google Translate. For Gates' reply was: &quot;Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. Go talk to Bill.&quot;Perhaps you, too, are left with a peculiar sensation in several of your active quarters on reading these exchanges. I wonder, though, what the Gates' kids might make of it all. Surely they must have held an iPod or an iPad in their hands. What if they liked them Is deprivation a positive parenting tactic Or will children grown up to crave what they were denied Just as those who own Apple products crave Flash. Oh, wait.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Crowd efforts make parliament videos searchable - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crowd-efforts-make-parliament-videos-searchable---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crowd-efforts-make-parliament-videos-searchable---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crowd-efforts-make-parliament-videos-searchable---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Theyworkforyou.com, the site that helps the British public keep tabs on their politicians, has just made the government''s goings-on even more transparent and accessible. Its full archive of video clips of debates in the House of Commons can now be searched, thanks to a new initiative to link parliament transcripts with video footage.The website created a timestamping application in June 2008 to match up each clip&amp;8212'recorded from BBC Parliament, the British equivalent of C-SPAN&amp;8212'to the correct transcript. Even though all of the timestamping needed to be done manually without a budget, two months after launch all 42,018 video clips were fully searchable. The non-profit site managed this by involving the general public, creating a small incentive by naming its top taggers, one of whom is responsible for over 8,000 entries. It also encouraged participation by making it incredibly easy for anyone to pitch in: all users need to do to get started is to click the ''Give me a random speech that needs timestamping'' link. They''re then shown a video, and just need to press the ''now'' button when they hear the words displayed below the player. The Houses of Parliament are currently in their Summer Recess, but when they get back to work in October, Theyworkforyou.com will be able to match up videos and transcripts as soon as they become available.By relying on the simple system of text search, finding important parts of debates in seemingly endless sequences of video suddenly becomes much less daunting. The project''s aim is to make it easy for citizens to watch relevant footage, and to remind politicians of the promises they''ve made. While Google and other tech behemoths work on making video searchable, the fact that this low-tech project was completed so quickly demonstrates the power of harnessing the crowds, and how ready and willing those crowds are to help create a greater degree of transparency. Politicians, beware: there''s no place to hide '-)Website: www.theyworkforyou.com/video Contact: team@theyworkforyou.comSpotted by: Simon Blair<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ahead of two monstrous game launches, Activision Blizzard reports healthy earnings]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahead-of-two-monstrous-game-launches-activision-blizzard-reports-healthy-earnings</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahead-of-two-monstrous-game-launches-activision-blizzard-reports-healthy-earnings</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahead-of-two-monstrous-game-launches-activision-blizzard-reports-healthy-earnings</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Activision Blizzard, the largest independent publisher of video games, predicted that it will have huge launches for its upcoming Call of Duty Black Ops and World of Warcraft:Cataclysm games.In an earnings call today, Activision Blizzard executives predicted that their launches of the two big titles will be huge, thanks to unprecedented demand for the games in pre-orders, buzz, and marketing feedback. Black Ops in particular is expected to beat sales of last year&amp;'s title, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, which sold 4.7 million units on its first day and which went on to become the best-selling video game of all time.Black Ops launches on Nov. 9, and Cataclysm, which is an expansion pack for the World of Warcraft online fantasy world, will debut on Dec. 7. The launches are expected to be so strong that Activision Blizzard has raised its fiscal year forecast.&amp;''We are obviously excited about having two of the biggest launches in interactive entertainment,&amp;'' said Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, which saw its shares rise 2 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday, after the earnings announcement.The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company reported better-than-expected earnings due to strong sales and cost cuts. Earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $51 million, or 4 cents a share, up from $15 million, or 1 cent a share, a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, Activision Blizzard earned 12 cents a share, compared with the 9 cents a share analysts expected. Non-GAAP numbers are more closely watched because they include online revenues. Revenues were $745 million, up from $703 million a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, revenues were $857 million, up 14 percent from a year ago. Analysts expected $750 million.For the quarter ending Dec. 31, Activision Blizzard has forecast adjusted earnings of 47 cents a share on non-GAAP revenue of $2.2 billion, compared with analysts&amp;' expectations of a profit of 50 cents a share on revenue of $2.31 billion. Analysts believe the company can do better than that, given the high demand for the two big games.Chief Executive Bobby Kotick told Reuters he is confident in the company&amp;'s releases for the holiday season. Although he declined to provide specific forecasts for &amp;''Call of Duty: Black Ops,&amp;'' Kotick said he expected it to be the biggest entertainment launch of the year.During the September quarter, earnings were helped by the release of the PC strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which sold more than 3 million units in its first month.The third quarter sales were also good because Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard, launched its World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack in China. World of Warcraft has more than 12 million paying subscribers, and many of those are in the Chinese market. The Lich King expansion originally debuted in the U.S. in 2008. It sold more than 2.8 million units on its first day' that&amp;'s why Activision Blizzard is so bullish on the Cataclysm expansion pack.Thomas Tippl, president of Activision Blizzard, also said on the call that Modern Warfare 2 continued to sell well during the third quarter and that players are still playing the game online, a full year after its launch. Tippl also confirmed that a new Call of Duty first-person shooter game will appear in the second half of 2011.The company now expects non-GAAP revenue of $4.45 billion for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, compared with its previous outlook of $4.4 billion. It also expects earnings of 74 cents a share instead of the previously forecast for 72 cents a share.Next Story: Optimized Energy Networks builds energy systems that even a Republican could love Previous Story: Startups bet on solar panels on every home and buildingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Call of Duty Black Ops, World of Warcraft: CataclysmCompanies: Activision Blizzard, Blizzard EntertainmentPeople: Bobby Kotick, Thomas Tippl          Tags: Call of Duty Black Ops, World of Warcraft: CataclysmCompanies: Activision Blizzard, Blizzard EntertainmentPeople: Bobby Kotick, Thomas TipplDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Optimized Energy Networks builds energy systems that even a Republican could love]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=optimized-energy-networks-builds-energy-systems-that-even-a-republican-could-love</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=optimized-energy-networks-builds-energy-systems-that-even-a-republican-could-love</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=optimized-energy-networks-builds-energy-systems-that-even-a-republican-could-love</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Optimized Energy Networks, a startup competing today at VentureBeata4a4s GreenBeat conference, said it wants to bring the latest cleantech technology to customers like universities, office parks, and local governments.Specifically, the startup creates what it calls a4Amicrogrid projectsa4, which combine energy generation (like rooftop solar panels and small wind power projects), storage, and controllable-energy appliances. These systems can connect to the existing electricity grid or operate on their own, and they can incorporate older technologies.The goal, said co-founder and chief operating officer John Edwards, is to provide a one-stop shop for organizations that dona4a4t know how to pursue their own cleantech projects because of all the fragmentation in the industry. It doesn&amp;'t build the devices itself, but rather assembles service and products from other companies. One of the competition judges asked how Optimized Energy Networks compares to energy service companies, and Edwards said there are similarities, but his company accomplishes the a4Ahard things of reducing peak consumption.a4Edwards also acknowledged that the environment around cleantech may have chilled following Tuesdaya4a4s election, with Republicans (who are generally hostile towards environmental spending) taking control of the House. But he argued that Optimized Energya4a4s approach might actually be a4Asomething the GOP likesa4 because ita4a4s small-scale and regional.Next Story: Chip industry expects sales to grow just 6 percent in 2011 Previous Story: Ahead of two monstrous game launches, Activision Blizzard reports healthy earningsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: GreenBeat, GreenBeat 2010Companies: Optimized Energy NetworksPeople: John Edwards          Tags: GreenBeat, GreenBeat 2010Companies: Optimized Energy NetworksPeople: John EdwardsAnthony 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>
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<title><![CDATA[Zynga launches Mafia Wars Atlantic City for mobile phones]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-mafia-wars-atlantic-city-for-mobile-phones</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-mafia-wars-atlantic-city-for-mobile-phones</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-launches-mafia-wars-atlantic-city-for-mobile-phones</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Zynga launched a mobile version of its Mafia Wars Atlantic City game today. The game is the social game company&amp;'s first designed for the mobile Web in the HTML5 format, and comes as it&amp;'s seeking to show potential investors that it has more tricks up its sleeve than just social games on Facebook&amp;'s website.Using HTML5 means Mafia Wars Atlantic City runs on any smartphone with a browser, including the iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and WebOS devices. That&amp;'s the beauty of HTML5 as opposed to Flash or native formats which are tied to particular phones. Zynga can create the game once and have it run on multiple platforms.The mobile arm of Zynga&amp;'s business will be important for its diversification efforts. Zynga makes a bundle of money on Facebook, where it has 245 monthly active users. But the potential of the mobile market is much greater and Zynga has to come up with more hits on that front. It competes head-on in mobile with rivals such as DeNA&amp;'s Ngmoco and Glu Mobile.The new mobile Mafia Wars game game is playable on a mobile web site at m.mafiawars.com or can be downloaded from GetJar&amp;'s app store. The Mafia Wars Atlantic City game is cross-platform in that it can access data from the player&amp;'s Mafia Wars account on Facebook, where Zynga has 19 million Mafia Wars players. Users can collect from their properties for all Mafia Wars cities, not just Atlantic City, by going to the mobile website.Zynga is also expected to launch its Zynga Poker game on Android later this week.Next Story: Photo app Instagram is (probably) raising money from Benchmark Previous Story: Is MyLife the biggest social site youa4a4ve never heard ofPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Mafia Wars, Mafia Wars Atlantic City, mobile games, social gamesCompanies: Zynga          Tags: Mafia Wars, Mafia Wars Atlantic City, mobile games, social gamesCompanies: ZyngaDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.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[Hottest Stealth Startups&nbsp'[Graphic]]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hottest-stealth-startupsnbspgraphic</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hottest-stealth-startupsnbspgraphic</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hottest-stealth-startupsnbspgraphic</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rumors ofa4s&amp;''the death of stealth mode&amp;'' have beena4sgreatly exaggerated. Ever since angel investor Chris Dixon tweeted, &amp;''New early-stage start up trend: get big quietly, so you don&amp;'t tip off potential competitors&amp;'' back in Marcha4syou can&amp;'t grab a coffee at The Creamery without hearing a &amp;''We&amp;'re in stealth mode&amp;'' come out some neophyte founder&amp;'s mouth.Multiple startups I have contacted for coverage have uttered the dreaded epithet and declined press despite a growing userbase.a4sI&amp;'ve spoken to a handful of VCs who hold that it&amp;'s getting increasingly difficult to announce funding or undertake any sort of publicity for the nascent companies they&amp;'re involved with.Perhaps the most absurd thing about the state of stealth modea4sis that many of these under-the-radar companies still manage to be over-hyped (!). In testament to this, the Quora thread &amp;''What are the hottest stealth startups in Silicon Valley right now&amp;''a4sexplores the ambiguities of stealth mode and forms a consensus on the most buzzed about stealth companies in Silicon Valley currently.Some, like 3LM, we&amp;'ve tracked down and got the skinny on. And others, like Rockmelt, are still on our radar. (FYI. If you&amp;'ve got a Facebook Fan Page, Marc Andreesen as an investor and are working on a new browser, YOU ARE NOT STEALTH.)We&amp;'ve created an expandable PearlTree for those hungry for more information on the secretive startups.a4sBut really it&amp;'d be great if some of them would just remove the cloak of invisibility or whatever marks the transition to non-stealthy behavior.  Hey guys, I&amp;'m really curious about all the cool things you&amp;'ve been working on, and I promise we won&amp;'t bite (I&amp;'m looking a you Path).CrunchBase InformationQuoraPearltreesInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Brightcove 5 Becomes Even More&nbsp'Apple-Friendly]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brightcove-5-becomes-even-morenbspapple-friendly</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brightcove-5-becomes-even-morenbspapple-friendly</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=brightcove-5-becomes-even-morenbspapple-friendly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Once a year around this time, Brightcove rolls out a bunch of new features to its online video platform and calls it a new release.  With Brightcove 5, this year the service is becoming even more Apple-friendly than ever before.  Not only is there more HTML5 goodness baked in, but it now supports Apple&amp;'s HTTP streaming for video apps and also offers a template for creating video apps on the iPad.Brightcove started paying closer attention to how videos play on Apple products last year with Brightcove 4, which added support for an iPhone video player.  Then as it became clear that Apple would not support Flash players in its mobile devices, Brightcove started transcoding to HTML5 and laying out a roadmap to add support for analytics, advertising, and custom players.  Now, with Brightcove 5 it adding in more HTML5 features.  When media sites and other customers create branded video players, they now look the same in Flash and HTML5.  And Brightcove&amp;'s analytics now keeps track of views in HTML5 players alongside Flash players.  It also supports APPle&amp;'s new HTTP streaming for videos in iPhone and iPad apps, as well as HTML5 browsers (but only on Apple devices). Finally, it is going to start pushing its iPhone app for video producers and reporters to be able to shoot, edit, and upload video straight from their iPhones to their Brightcove accounts.  In addition to the HTML5 and Apple-specific features, Brightcove is also adding YouTube sync, which lets video producers push their Brightcove videos automatically to their YouTube channel or manage which videos they would like to promote there.  Overall, video uploads and processing should also get faster for pro and enterprise accounts with some new file transfer acceleration technology Brightcove is licensing from Aspera. CrunchBase InformationBrightcoveAppleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[You&'ve Got&nbsp'FMail]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yoursquove-gotnbspfmail</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yoursquove-gotnbspfmail</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Torrie</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yoursquove-gotnbspfmail</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The news on Monday appears to be that Facebook will reinvent email. TechCrunch says ita4a4s the long awaited Gmail killer. Others say ita4a4s Gmail inventor Paul Buchheita4a4s project since he came to Facebook in the FriendFeed acquisition. Paul says he hasna4a4t been working on that, but rather the Big Freaking Zip File app where we can download all our Facebook bits. And anyway, hea4a4s gone a4&quot; off to Y Combinator to continue his angel investing. And Ia4a4m gone a4&quot; from email. Have been for a while now.I still use email all the time. Or rather, it uses me. I watch colleagues at work (Salesforce.com) bounce back and forth from Outlook and Gmail, selecting, reading, skimming, and oh yes, deleting, deleting, deleting. You have to do that in Outlook, to stay ahead of the Mailbox is Full message. Gmail, not really, but ita4a4s hard to break the old habit. And recently I had to start paying for that privilege, when Google stopped raising the limit and converted me to a cloud customer.But thata4a4s basically a methadone program, maintenance without getting high. I work for the Man a4&quot; email. It doesna4a4t work for me. Search has replaced email as the quickest path to information on demand, and increasingly the most valuable repository is the stream. Search plus stream is Track, and email notification is the delivery mechanism du jour. Email has been taken over by notifications of events from the stream. Facebook comments, FourSquare and PlanCast follows, YouTube subscriptions, Twitter direct messages, so much stuff ita4a4s turned spam into some odd historical horse and buggy data type.What happens now is that these stream objects are lit up with transactional properties. Code gets run based on incoming events, pulling it out of the teeming inbox before we see it and converted into actions predetermined by our inference engines and workflow rules. a4AIf Retweet equals Member of Strategy Group, add to midmorning direct message queue.a4 a4AIf Silverlight press conference transcript feed contains question from Mary Jo Foley, route to broker queue with Unload flag.a4 And so on.This is not AI or smart computing' ita4a4s harvesting social signals in the context of realtime economics. This is how the television networks have been making their money for years, pushed out to access by every business and business person. Watch how Conan harnesses the social wave to shoot to the top of the ratings, by redefining the ratings around the highly desirable data type of the transactional micromessage stream addict. (This happened on Monday.) On TBS, no less. Ted Turnera4a4s old flagship, built with CBS reruns and an over-80 demo, now sucking up the CoCo crowd. You kids, get off my lawn.If Facebook reinvents email by submerging it in the stream, theya4a4ll have something to announce. Meanwhile, Google continues to eat away at its notion of inevitability a4&quot; panic bonuses and multi-million dollar retention offers mixed with data withholding gambits. It never occurred to anyone that the data we give Google was valuable until they started hoarding it. Wea4a4ve known all along that Facebook was locking it up until they had so much momentum it didna4a4t matter, and now Google is blaring the news that ita4a4s too late to stop them.Google really gets in trouble when the widgets take over. I love my Gmail screen, with its GTalk/AIM IM presence lights going green and chat streams orange as Twitter tracks and FriendFeed conversations stream in. But the Chatter, Skype, and Facebook toaster popups and push notifications on my iPhone and iPad are slowly but surely relegating email further and further back in the pack. RockMelt is creeping in from the Edges, and Gmail is getting eaten alive by so many carpenter ants.Gmail is Googlea4a4s Achilles Heel, it suddenly seems. It heralded the beginning of the Cloud Era, by dismantling Microsofta4a4s aura of invincibility. You cana4a4t do that, cried the Sinofskyites, and then they did it. On demand email, you know, Office 365. But Google made the classic mistake of not checking their rear view mirror while blowing past the Borg. Wave, Buzz, Me, whatever. Forget Bing, forget the 10% raises, forget downloading the social graph and cloning it. If Google Classic is undermined, then it doesna4a4t matter what else is coming. If Facebook blows past email, Gmail looks like Google Reader all of a sudden.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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