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<title>Haaze.com / cheapedhardy2 / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Kodak wins key battle in Apple patent case]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kodak-wins-key-battle-in-apple-patent-case</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kodak-wins-key-battle-in-apple-patent-case</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kodak-wins-key-battle-in-apple-patent-case</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An International Trade Commission judge has sided with Eastman Kodak in the company's ongoing patent battle with Apple.Judge Robert Rogers yesterday rejected Apple's claims that two of its patents on digital photography were being violated by Kodak. In a statement to CNET today, Kodak said that it was &quot;pleased by this ruling.&quot;Apple filed its patent-infringement claim against Kodak last year. The company cited patent 6,031,964, a &quot;system and method for using a unified memory architecture to implement a digital camera device.&quot; It charged that Kodak also infringed patent RE38,911, a &quot;modular digital image processing via an image processing chain with modifiable parameter controls.&quot;However, Apple wasn't the first company to fire a shot. In January of last year, Kodak cited both Apple and RIM in a claim with the ITC, saying that the companies' use of image previews in theiPhone and BlackBerry devices infringed its digital-imaging patents.In January of this year, an ITC judge ruled that the technology used in the iPhone and BlackBerry models did not, in fact, violate Kodak's patents. In March, the ITC agreed to hold a hearing with its six commissioners to make a final determination on the case, which is expected in late June.Kodak's infringement claims against Apple and RIM came soon after the company signed royalty deals with LG and Samsung after it filed similar complaints against those firms. According to a Bloomberg report from earlier this year, Kodak generated $838 million in patent royalties in 2010 alone.Apple's patent-infringement claims aren't necessarily dead yet. The six-member ITC commission will review the ruling and make its own determination on the case in September.Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7 join the Intel upgrade bandwagon]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hp-pavilion-dv6-and-dv7-join-the-intel-upgrade-bandwagon</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hp-pavilion-dv6-and-dv7-join-the-intel-upgrade-bandwagon</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hp-pavilion-dv6-and-dv7-join-the-intel-upgrade-bandwagon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:HP)Even more HP laptops are joining the march to Intel's second-generation Core i-series processors. The Pavilion dv6 and Pavilion dv7 are getting the upgrade, and sticking with AMD Radeon graphics. The changes here are all under the hood, and we suspect HP's entire line of Core i3/5/i7 laptops will jump to the second-generation CPUs soon. The upgraded HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7 are going to be available in the U.S. from January 9, starting $899.99 and $999.99, respectively.HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7 (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Decware's all-American amps wow audiophiles]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=decwares-all-american-amps-wow-audiophiles</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=decwares-all-american-amps-wow-audiophiles</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=decwares-all-american-amps-wow-audiophiles</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Decware Zen Triode amplifier(Credit:Decware)Decware makes low power amplifiers and high-end speakers in the United States. Their entry-level Zen Triode amplifier ($775) pumps out 2 watts per channel, and if you need more get the 6 watt Zen Taboo ($995), or the mighty 26-watt Zen Torii ($2,495). The Zen Triode was the company's very first model and has charmed tough to please high-end critics on a regular basis.Trust me on this' you'd be amazed how good a few watts can sound, and when they're matched with the right speakers, micro power amps can definitely play loud enough to annoy your neighbors. You're skeptical I don't blame you, but Decware amps are sold with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the company wouldn't have lasted 15 years if it didn't have lots of satisfied customers. Business is so brisk there's usually a 30-day waiting list for new customers. Owner Steve Deckert and his crew of nine build all of the amps in East Peoria, Ill., where he uses expensive American-made parts (resistors, capacitors, switches, etc.) in his designs. Deckert steers clear of printed circuit boards because he thinks hand-soldered &quot;point-to-point&quot; silver-plated copper wired amps sound better. That dedication to sound quality dramatically increases the amount of time it takes to build an amplifier. Depending on the model, he figures it takes between 7 and 11 hours to build just one amp' Deckert could cut the labor down to under 2 hours with printed circuit boards. Very, very few high-end manufacturers build amps like Deckert does, even with amps that sell for many times Decware's prices.Build quality claims are one thing, but Decware's tube amps are all backed with a lifetime warranty, and again, I don't know of another manufacturer of tube or solid-state amps that offers lifetime warranties (the tubes are not covered). So sure, you may be playing different digital formats 10 or 20 years from now, but if you're still listening to speakers, you can expect to use a Decware amp to drive them. Steve Deckert is always on hand to talk with his customers to help them select the right amp for their needs. The Taboo amp with solid-wood base.(Credit:Decware)Deckert also designs the Decware speakers, which are built by Bob Ziegler in North Carolina. The speakers are designed to sing with just a few watts, but you don't have to stick with Decware speakers, and Klipsch makes lots of speakers that'll click with low power designs. Decware's speaker prices are very reasonable, but if they're out of range, or you just want to have fun, build your own speakers from Decware design plans. Some of these things, like the Model HWK15 House Wrecker 15-inch subwoofer, look really interesting. Deckert sells the plans for $20 and estimates the sub would cost around $150 to build (plus the cost of a solid-state amplifier to drive the sub). A hand-made Decware speaker(Credit:Decware)The bulk of the company's direct sales are in the U.S., but they are also sold factory-direct in 54 countries. Decware is just now starting to work with a couple of brick-and-mortar dealers, EarHead Audio in Winchester, Va., and Audio Boutique in Vancouver. I will soon do a review of a Decware amp, but I'd love to hear from any Decware owners in the Comments section right now. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[LEDs keep coming: 60-watt stand-in priced at $30]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leds-keep-coming-60-watt-stand-in-priced-at-30</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leds-keep-coming-60-watt-stand-in-priced-at-30</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leds-keep-coming-60-watt-stand-in-priced-at-30</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Lighting Sciences Group today introduced an LED bulb designed as a replacement for a 60-watt incandescent that will be available next month for under $30.The company announced the bulb at a ceremony at its Satellite Beach, Fla., headquarters, where it manufactured its 1 millionth LED light with the familiar &quot;A&quot; shape of an incandescent bulb.The light dispersal from Lighting Sciences 60-watt equivalent LED, which consumes 13 watts.(Credit:Lighting Sciences Group)A 40-watt equivalent LED bulb has been available through Home Depot since earlier this year, priced just under $18. The 60-watt replacement category is more significant because it's one of the most popular for lightbulbs, with hundreds of millions sold every year.Lighting Sciences said that its latest A19 bulb will give off 850 lumens and consume 13 watts, and that it will last 50,000 hours, or almost 23 years assuming 6 hours a day of use.The A19 will be available under the Definity brand through lighting distributors in late January and be available in Home Depot stores in March, according to a representative from Lighting Sciences Group.  The light of the company's existing A19 bulb is a white light at 3000 Kelvin, rather than the warmer yellow light of incandescent bulbs.Lighting manufacturers are embracing LED technology because it offers a good technical path for improving efficiency, even compared to compact florescent lights. Right now, LED bulbs are slightly more efficient than EnergyStar-certified CFLs when measured on lumens per watt. LEDs are projected to last many times longer than CLFs and don't contain mercury. Lighting Science Group said its LED bulbs can be recycled.In terms of price, Lighting Sciences appears to be one of the most aggressive, and industry executives expect the price to decrease steadily over the next few years. Philips started selling its Ambient A19 LED, which gives off 800 lumens of warm light, through Home Depot this month for $40. Osram Sylvania will start selling its 810-lumen LED bulb through Lowe's for just under $40.General Electric earlier this month started selling a 40-watt equivalent online for $50. It is seeking to differentiate itself with a design that better disperses light, making it suitable for desk lamps and other applications that require even light distribution.Light dispersal in LED bulbs (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[ILM doc shows Lucas' focus on making 'great movies']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ilm-doc-shows-lucas-focus-on-making-great-movies</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ilm-doc-shows-lucas-focus-on-making-great-movies</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ilm-doc-shows-lucas-focus-on-making-great-movies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new documentary about Industrial Light &amp; Magic highlights the biggest accomplishments of its 35-year history. Among them are the digital effects seen in 'Terminator 2.'(Credit:ILM)SAN FRANCISCO--When George Lucas talks about the raison d'etre of his award-winning visual effects studio, Industrial Light &amp; Magic, his logic might strike some in the bottom line-obsessed world of Hollywood as heretical.&quot;I started ILM to help make great movies,&quot; Lucas told CNET recently. &quot;That's what we're here for. We're not here as a big moneymaking organization. We're not here as a business. We're here to make great movies.&quot;Of course, any filmmaker would probably want to say something like that, but Lucas may well be the one person for whom such a sentiment is legitimate.&quot;Obviously there are financial constraints that have to be adhered to&quot; in working on a film, Lucas continued, &quot;which are [difficult for outside filmmakers who hire ILM] because they have a real hard budget. When I do it, I'm in charge of the budget, so I can decide on a day-to-day basis what we're going to spend money on and what we're not...Nobody else can say that, because...I own the company, and I also am making the movie.&quot;35 years of 'impossible' ILM visual effects (photos) ILM and the process for creating award-winning visual effects it has developed over the last 35 years--whether profitable or not--is at the center of a new documentary by &quot;The Pixar Story&quot; director Leslie Iwerks. Titled &quot;Industrial Light &amp; Magic: Creating the Impossible,&quot; the new film premieres on the Encore cable TV network on November 12, and without a doubt, one of the best things about it is watching some of Hollywood's most prominent artists gush about how the famous visual effects studio has changed filmmaking forever.It's no accident that the new film is packed with moments featuring the leading lights of the film industry. Iwerks was given access to countless hours of ILM archival materials, as well as to people like Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, J.J. Abrams, Jerry Bruckheimer, and many others who have hired or worked with George Lucas' effects house since its creation in 1975.&quot;I think ILM's biggest accomplishment isn't any one [film],&quot; Abrams, who directed 2009's mega-hit &quot;Star Trek,&quot; says in the film. &quot;It's that they've managed to realize the dream that any filmmaker would have, which is the ability to do anything.&quot;That, of course, is the sentiment that keeps ILM at or near the peak of the visual effects industry. But the Lucas-owned studio, which has worked on nearly 300 films, and which has won 15 Academy Awards, wasn't always a world-changing organization. Indeed, it was started for one focused purpose, and with one specific client.The original ILM logo, as displayed at a special screening of a new documentary about the award-winning visual effects studio(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)&quot;With 'Star Wars,' I wanted to do an action picture,&quot; recalls Lucas in Iwerks' documentary. &quot;I wanted to do something where I could pan with the spaceships, where there's a lot of really short cuts...a lot of rhythm, a lot of pace, a lot of movement on the screen. I wanted it to be very cinematic. And at that point in time, that was impossible. You just couldn't do that with special effects. So when the studio said, 'Well, how are you going to do that' I said, Oh, well, we'll figure it out. But I had no idea what I was going to do.&quot;What Lucas did, back in those heady days before &quot;Star Wars&quot; was perhaps the most successful film franchise of all time, was start a new outfit whose sole purpose was to design the effects he needed for his unlikely space opera.Thanks to a vast and sudden shrinking of the special effects industry in Hollywood, Lucas was able to purchase a lot of the gear he needed for his fledgling operation at pennies on the dollar. And, setting himself up in a warehouse in Van Nuys, Calif., Lucas began what is now undeniably a march towards forever changing what the film industry sees as a realistic effect.'Invent our way out'Today, filmmakers like Spielberg take it as almost a given that effects houses like ILM can achieve even the most demanding goals. But back in 1975, when Lucas and his team of artists set out to begin work on &quot;Star Wars,&quot; that was hardly true. Instead, as Iwerks illustrates in her documentary, the visual effects supervisors on the project found themselves in a constant battle against the limits of their art form. Yet rather than give in to those limits, they always looked for ways to break them down.It would take hours, or days, to complete shots that would appear on screen for just seconds, and more often than not, Lucas and his ILM visual effects supervisors wouldn't have any precedent to turn to when trying to figure out how to complete a shot.&quot;We would paint our way into a corner,&quot; Richard Edlund, who worked on the film and later became an ILM visual effects supervisor, says in the documentary, &quot;and have to invent our way out of it.&quot;That meant innovations like the Dykstraflex, named after primary developer John Dykstra, an all-digital system that gave filmmakers a computer controlled system that allowed the programming of dynamic and repeatable elements and which facilitated combining multiple components into a single shot. George Lucas poses for a picture with Leslie Iwerks, the director of the new documentary about ILM, 'Industrial Light &amp; Magic: Creating the Impossible.'(Credit:ILM)&quot;It was like we were in Florence during the Renaissance,&quot; recalls Bill George, an ILM visual effects supervisor.And yet, a big part of why ILM was able to take these leaps forward in the &quot;Star Wars&quot; days was because Lucas was both the owner of the studio, and its only client. In the documentary, Lucas recalls being in meetings with his effects supervisors and being told that they couldn't get something or other done.But Lucas would hear none of it. Instead of accepting that answer, he would tell his team that, yes, they could do it, and they would do it. He wouldn't accept the alternative.I had a chance to ask Lucas about that sense of pure confidence at a recent private screening of the documentary at LucasFilm's San Francisco headquarters, and his answer highlighted his very surprising notion that ILM is supposed to be about enabling artists to create great work rather than obsessing about every last dollar. &quot;I have enough knowledge of what needs to get done that I'm allowed to make the leap,&quot; Lucas explained, talking about his control of budgets on his own projects. &quot;I had a movie ['Star Wars']. I wanted it to be a great movie. I needed visual effects to do that. But I wanted the best visual effects...So if I say we will get this done, there's many times when I said I don't care. I know it's going to cost more than we thought, but we're going to do it. So I can say that. Nobody else can say that, because again, I own the company, and I'm also making the movie.&quot;To be sure, outside filmmakers like Spielberg who hire ILM almost certainly don't have that kind of financial freedom. But Lucas' philosophy of ensuring that ILM's artists help directors get what they want when they engage the visual effects house was reflected throughout Iwerks' film.&quot;It's wonderful to know that the tools are there to really begin to get what's [in my imagination] out there in the world,&quot; Howard says in the film, &quot;and ILM has been leading the charge in that quest since it began.&quot;The most famous movies, the most famous shotsYou might not know it, but ILM's legacy extends to an incredibly wide selection of the most famous movies of the last 35 years. From Lucas' own &quot;Star Wars&quot; series to &quot;Raiders of the Lost Ark,&quot; &quot;The Abyss,&quot; &quot;Terminator&quot; and &quot;Terminator 2,&quot; &quot;Jurassic Park,&quot; &quot;Star Trek,&quot; the &quot;Pirates of the Caribbean&quot; series, and the &quot;Iron Man&quot; films, it's nearly impossible to think of visual effects without considering ILM's influence.George Lucas and longtime ILM visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren--seen here on camera crane--between takes for a scene from the Speederbike chase during the filming of 'Return of the Jedi.'(Credit:ILM)Even though there are several other leading VFX studios sharing the spotlight these days--such as Peter Jackson's Weta Digital, or Digital Domain, or Sony's Imageworks--most observers would still place ILM at the top of the pyramid.And that's got a lot to do with the work it has achieved over the years and the ground it's broken. From the award-winning effects on &quot;Star Wars&quot; itself to innovations like the first-ever computer graphics sequence--in &quot;Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan&quot;--to the first CG character--in &quot;Young Sherlock Holmes&quot;--to the first morphing shot ever done--in Howard's &quot;Willow&quot;--to its more recent work, ILM has continued to shape the state of the art of the visual effects industry.To be sure, Iwerks' film looks almost entirely at ILM's ground-breaking accomplishments. But that's because the list of those achievements is so long. Yet, to those who pay attention to the visual effects industry, ILM's biggest contributions to the modern version of the art probably boil down to its work on two films: &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; and &quot;Terminator 2.&quot;In the documentary, Spielberg recalls the day when legendary ILM visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren came to him and reported that it would be possible to create some of the crucial dinosaur scenes in &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; digitally, rather than relying on traditional analog methods.&quot;All the onus of stop motion photography was suddenly eradicated,&quot; Spielberg recalls.And to Lucas, the one moment moved the visual effects industry forward forever.&quot;The major breakthrough was when [Spielberg] bought off on [Muren's] idea of making that leap from analog to digital,&quot; Lucas says in the film. &quot;And that's really what changed everything. Once we did those dinosaurs, I saw that we had unlimited possibilities.&quot;Before long, movies were getting studio support largely on the strength of the new ability of the visual effects teams' to craft what would previously have been impossible shots.For example, Ian Bryce, the producer of 1996's &quot;Twister,&quot; recalled that that movie was given the go-ahead after a roomful of decision makers saw a test of a digital tornado shot ILM created. We &quot;sat in the screening room,&quot; Bryce said, &quot;and everybody loved the shot so much, that that's when the film got green-lit.&quot;New tools It's been years since &quot;Twister,&quot; of course, and the most recent visual effects Oscar belongs to Weta Digital for its work on James Cameron's &quot;Avatar.&quot; But to those in the industry, ILM's influence on the field is impossible to ignore. &quot;Technology changes very quickly, and gets better and better,&quot; said Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of many hit movies including the &quot;Pirates of the Caribbean&quot; series, &quot;and so it gives the artists at ILM and their supervisors more fun to play with, and more things to play with, and more toys, and pushes the limits, which is exactly what we want to do.&quot;Indeed, these days, ILM is so good at what it does that some filmmakers can no longer distinguish between the visual effects and real scenes.In helping to make Jon Favreau's 2008 smash &quot;Iron Man,&quot; ILM developed both digital and real versions of the famous exoskeleton worn by Robert Downey Jr.'s character, Tony Stark.In the documentary, Favreau recalls giving notes to the ILM team about how he didn't like the reflections coming off the suit in what he thought was one of the digital sequences. &quot;And the supervisor said, 'That's the real suit,'&quot; Favreau says. &quot;And that's when I knew that it's crossed that line...It has passed the point where I could tell the difference. And then it became how best to design the shots to make full use of what it could do well and not to ask of those shots or the technology what it wasn't good at. So I think a lot of times now, when you see bad CGI, it's because of poor planning on behalf of the filmmaker, and not the artists who are working on it.&quot;Iwerks' documentary chronicles the illustrious 35 year record of ILM, highlighting the early, &quot;Star Wars,&quot; period, as well as the crucial &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; breakthroughs. But if one thing comes through in her film, it's that ILM is hardly resting on its laurels, or letting its rivals lead the pack.Still, what really illustrates ILM's influence on the industry is the never-ending compliments paid to it by the likes of Spielberg, Howard, Bruckheimer, and so on. In the film's final moments, Spielberg recalls how important it was to the industry when Lucas made the decision to open ILM's doors to outside filmmakers--essentially ensuring that all of Hollywood could benefit from the visual effects artistry that was going on in Lucas' until then private fiefdom.&quot;George made his company available to every studio and to every filmmaker,&quot; Spielberg says with a very warm smile. &quot;That was the first time that had ever happened before, where a company was formed for all of us to achieve all of our impossible dreams. And George made that possible for all of us.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: Google offered $5.3B for daily deal site Groupon]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-offered-5-3b-for-daily-deal-site-groupon</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-offered-5-3b-for-daily-deal-site-groupon</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-offered-5-3b-for-daily-deal-site-groupon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hot off the heels of an oft-criticized $700 million acquisition of flight-data provider ITA, search giant Google might now end up purchasing daily-deal provider Groupon for $5.3 billion, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal&amp;'s technology blog All Things D. That comes just after reports of a buyout of the site for a mere $2.5 billion a4&quot; less than half of what the latest reports indicate.It isn&amp;'t immediately clear where the daily deal space is going yet. But it has exploded thanks to sites like LivingSocial and Groupon. Both Groupon and LivingSocial now offer deeply discounted offers for services, meals, and group activities from local merchants who have previously struggled to reach new customers online.Rather than relying on algorithms or some new sophisticated technology like most startups focus on, daily deal sites have grown swiftly as a result of a more human-centered approach. Local merchants that pair with city planners and writers who curate deals and market them withold-fashioned if well-written emails have ended up handling a bulk of the promotion.Groupon is the largest, and most well-known, daily deal site on the web a4&quot; it was valued at over $1 billionfollowing a large round of funding in April. A report by the New York Times indicated the Google-Groupon dealcould be worth as much as $6 billion.All Things Digital reported a few weeks ago that Google and Groupon were in talks, which sparked countless follow-up rumors. At the time, we argued that a Google buyoutwould be terrible for Groupon because the search giant lacks a human touch.The newest offer also follows reports that Yahoo tried to purchase Groupon for as much as $4 billion, after rumors from earlier this month thatthe deal site was after more funding that would value it at $3 billion.As is the case with all deals, this one could fall apart before it sees the light of day. But the deal does make some sense, just like howGooglea4a4s $1.65 billion YouTube purchase makes more sense now than it did in 2006. Purchasing Groupon could easily pay off for Google down the line. Google is also poking around a bit in the online shopping space as well, after it recently launched fashion site Boutiques.com.Previous Story: Google-backed satellite provider O3b raises $1.2B to bring the world onlinePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: daily deal, discountsCompanies: Google, Groupon, ITA          Tags: daily deal, discountsCompanies: Google, Groupon, ITAMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.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[Rackspace picks up cloud performance monitoring startup Cloudkick]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rackspace-picks-up-cloud-performance-monitoring-startup-cloudkick</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rackspace-picks-up-cloud-performance-monitoring-startup-cloudkick</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rackspace-picks-up-cloud-performance-monitoring-startup-cloudkick</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cloudkick, a developer of web applications that help manage cloud computing environments, announced today that it has agreed to be bought out by cloud computing provider Rackspace for an undisclosed sum.Rackspace is one of several companies that run public cloud servers. That means application developers and companies can offload programs that require a lot of heavy-duty computing firepower onto remote servers like the ones Rackspace provides. It&amp;'s an increasingly popular trend as it lets smaller businesses and developers have access to some pretty powerful hardware without having to buy servers and databases and set them up.Cloudkick basically gives developers and companies using applications on cloud computing servers a dashboard that shows how they are performing. The core product is free, butCloudkick recently started charging for premium tools. The idea is to help manage cloud computing applications and squeeze out a little more efficiency in order to cut down cost. It&amp;'s important because a lot of public cloud providers charge per gigabyte of storage or for a certain amount of time spent using the servers a4&quot; so, literally, every second counts.If the success of services like Rackspace and Amazon&amp;'s EC2 weren&amp;'t enough to show how popular cloud computing has become, how about this: Cloudkick is only two years old. The company was originally incubated in Y Combinator and pretty quickly raised about $3 million in venture capital funding. It has a number of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 500 list as its clients.Cloud computing might not be the sexiest field in the world, but it does something a lot of technology fails to do a4&quot; it just works. It works well enough that Rackspace is willing to take a chance on a company that&amp;'s just two years old, and it works well enough that a company like Salesforce will pick up a three-year-old company that will help cloud computing development for more than $200 million.Only time will tell whether Marc Andreessen&amp;'s vision of everything but love notes existing in the cloud will ever come to fruition. But, for the time being, the cloud is proving to be pretty powerful.Next Story: Ticket upstart Ticketfly accelerates with the Baltimore Grand Prix Previous Story: RockStar Games reveals secret to its stunningly realistic human faces in L.A. Noire (video)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: cloud computing, efficiency, public cloudCompanies: Amazon, Cloudkick, Heroku, Rackspace, salesforce          Tags: cloud computing, efficiency, public cloudCompanies: Amazon, Cloudkick, Heroku, Rackspace, salesforceMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.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[Behold Opera Mobile For Android: Speedy, Pinch-To-Zoom, Geolocation And&nbsp'More]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=behold-opera-mobile-for-android-speedy-pinch-to-zoom-geolocation-andnbspmore</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=behold-opera-mobile-for-android-speedy-pinch-to-zoom-geolocation-andnbspmore</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=behold-opera-mobile-for-android-speedy-pinch-to-zoom-geolocation-andnbspmore</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Opera Software has released its (second) free mobile browser product for the Android platform. Grab the app, dubbed Opera Mobile 10.1 beta, now in Android Market or here.Yes, Opera was already available for Android, in a fairly limited way. Opera Mini, has been live on the market since July, but now you can also download the company&amp;'s full-fledged browser, Opera Mobile, from the application store. Here&amp;'s what it&amp;'s packing:- speedy page loading compared to other browsers, particularly on slower networks (courtesy of Opera Turbo)- smooth scrolling, zooming and panning (rather than having to tap to zoom in, which is definitely a huge improvement)- Speed Dial- Visual tabs for easy tab management &amp;8212'&amp;gt'- Built-in geolocation support- Ability to sync bookmarks across devices- SVG supportAs I had mentioned earlier, the release of the public beta version of Opera Mobile for Android was just a matter of time, as the product already existed, albeit for the Norwegian company&amp;'s OEM partners only.Now that it&amp;'s available for direct download for end users, you&amp;'d be wrong not to check it out. Fellow TechCrunch writer Jason Kincaid installed a build of the app on his Android smartphone this morning and confirmed that it feels snappier than the native browser that came installed on it. Obviously, more robust side-by-side testing is welcome here.The browser is available in Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.Here&amp;'s an earlier video I recorded, featuring Opera Mobile &amp;amp' Devices product manager Phillip Grnvold giving me a demo of the app on his Samsung Galaxy S phone:CrunchBase InformationOpera MobileOpera SoftwareInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Real Life Plus&'s social game makes fashion into a battle (exclusive)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=real-life-plusrsquos-social-game-makes-fashion-into-a-battle-exclusive</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=real-life-plusrsquos-social-game-makes-fashion-into-a-battle-exclusive</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=real-life-plusrsquos-social-game-makes-fashion-into-a-battle-exclusive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sometimes crazy ideas for video games turn out to be hits. That must  be the logic behind Real Life Plus, a startup game studio that&amp;'s making  two interesting new Facebook apps, Style Studio and its companion game Fashion FaceOff.As  you can tell from the image above, this one involves hot girls and  guns, sort of like Call of Duty meets Project Runway. Or, if you&amp;'re into  games for women and girls, Stardoll meets Sorority Life. The company is coming out of stealth today and is one of those rare ventures that aims to create a game that both sexes will like.You create your designs in Style Studio, an app that will be available on the web or on social networks such as Facebook.Then you show your fashion designs off in  the Facebook game, Fashion FaceOff, where you compete against other  designers in a kind of gladiator&amp;'s arena. If you lose, you&amp;'re eliminated  with deadly weapons, such as the rocket launcher shown above.In  Fashion FaceOff, users are the judge, jury and executioner for would-be fashion designers. If you&amp;'re talented, you can rise  through the ranks and buy toys such as flamethrowers to destroy  unworthy designs.It may sound like a dude&amp;'s fantasy. But the founder and chief  creative officer of the Emeryville, Calif.based company is a woman,  Terry Redfield (pictured right), who has a mix of male and female video game veterans on her  management team.If Fashion FaceOff sounds a little crazy, Style Studio is more  conventional. You can employ easy-to-use tools to create 3D fabrics,  clothing and outfits. You can take Polaroid-like snapshots and put them in your portfolio. Then you can enter your designs in the Fashion  FaceOff. If you hate a design, you can literally flame it with a flamethrower. If one of your own outfit designs gets flamed 50 times, you get an achievement badge of Asbestos Underwear.a4AI wanted to create something easy enough for my mom to play, yet  cool enough for my 15-year-old nephew to try,a4 says Redfield, who  started the company with co-founder St.John Coln. a4AMy goal is to make  applications and virtual spaces that all tie together into one exciting  experience.a4You can download the apps now on the company&amp;'s web site. But they will also be available on Facebook, MySpace and the iPad.Redfield&amp;'s team has a lot of experience making games and social  media. They&amp;'ve worked on games such as The Sims 2, Resident Evil, Toy  Story, Tomb Raider, Psychonauts, SpongeBob Squarepants and Madden NFL  Football. Redfield started working in online communities at age 15 and  worked at game companies such as 3DO and Double Fine Productions.  Throughout her career, she has straddled the traditional game and casual  game businesses. Coln has worked on games that have sold more than  17.7 million units at companies such as Square, Warner Bros.,  Nickelodeon and Disney/Pixar.Other key folks are Roselyn Romberg, president and chief operating  officer' Dennis Harper, technical director' and animator Tara  Packard. The company can create high-quality 3D animations because it  uses the Unity Engine from Unity Technologies, which can create 3D  graphics running inside a web browser.The company was founded in 2009 and has 10 employees. Rivals  include fashion-oriented games and virtual worlds such as Gaia Online  and Second Life. Advisors include game veterans Ed Fries, former head of  Microsoft Game Studios, and Robin Harper, head of marketing at Playdom  and former executive at Linden Lab.The company has raised $120,000 in angel funding and is raising a  round of venture money. Here&amp;'s a concept video for the game below.Next Story: Apple raises iPhone shipments for Q1 2011, Verizon-ready CDMA iPhones included Previous Story: Protecting your company from boneheaded vendorsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Fashion FaceOff, Style StudioCompanies: Real Life PlusPeople: Terry Redfield          Tags: Fashion FaceOff, Style StudioCompanies: Real Life PlusPeople: Terry RedfieldDean 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[Microsoft&'s Kinect gaming control hacked already]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoftrsquos-kinect-gaming-control-hacked-already</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoftrsquos-kinect-gaming-control-hacked-already</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoftrsquos-kinect-gaming-control-hacked-already</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Just a few days after the launch of Microsoft&amp;'s Kinect motion-sensing game system, hackers have broken the security behind it, according to a video released today.The video below shows that a hacker has taken control of the Kinect system, which is a $149 add-on for the Xbox 360 video game console. Kinect allows users to play motion-sensing games without any game controller. The effort was undertaken at the urging of New York-based Adafruit Industries, which offered a $2,000 bounty for an open-source hack. Phillip Torrone of Adafruit provided the video to the Gizmodo gadget blog.In a statement to CNET, Microsoft said, &amp;''Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.&amp;''Adafruit is led by MIT Media lab alumni Limor Fried and Torrone, a senior editor at Make magazine. They&amp;'re basically encouraging the hacking for the sake of hacking. It&amp;'s not clear what the consequence would be if the motion control system is hacked. Presumably, the hardware behind Kinect could be redirected to work with other game systems, robots, or the PC.&amp;''It&amp;'s amazing hardware that shouldn&amp;'t just be locked up for Xbox 360,&amp;'' Torrone told CNET by e-mail. &amp;''Its &amp;8216'radar camera&amp;' being able to get video and distance as a sensor input from commodity hardware is huge.&amp;''Next Story: Will Diapers.com buy prove taxing for Amazon.com Previous Story: Apple fails to fix iPhone Daylight Savings Time alarm bug for USPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: KinectCompanies: Adafruit, MicrosoftPeople: Phillip Torrone          Tags: KinectCompanies: Adafruit, MicrosoftPeople: Phillip TorroneDean 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[Curated marketplace for indie wedding goods - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=curated-marketplace-for-indie-wedding-goods---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=curated-marketplace-for-indie-wedding-goods---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cheapedhardy2</dc:creator>
<category>Retail</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=curated-marketplace-for-indie-wedding-goods---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Following in the footsteps of Etsy-like sites including Foodzie (artisanal food), IndieReader (indie books), Market Publique (vintage fashion) and Lushpad (mid-century furniture), Wedzu is a curated marketplace for independent and handmade wedding goods.Just launched last week, Texas-based Wedzu lets artists and other creatives set up a Wedzu store for free. They can list as many handmade and independent wedding items as they like' the only cost is when they make a sale, from which Wedzu charges a commission of 10 percent. Products on the site are organized into a number of categories, and sellers set their own prices, shipping policies and fees. Examples of items currently for sale on Wedzu include a4AJust Marrieda4 luggage tags, black satin blossom hair pins and a 4mm princess diamond ring.When the market becomes overwhelming, the market turns to curation, as we''ve now seen demonstrated time and time again. Keep the curated marketplaces coming!Website: www.wedzu.comContact: help@wedzu.com<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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