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<title>Haaze.com / kyblackr / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Comparing voice quality on the iPhone 4]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=comparing-voice-quality-on-the-iphone-4</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=comparing-voice-quality-on-the-iphone-4</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=comparing-voice-quality-on-the-iphone-4</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)No matter how fancy a smartphone is, it's not worth much if it doesn't make decent calls. You may have music, apps, and the Internet, but connecting to a carrier's network and enjoying satisfying audio clarity is much more important.For much of its life, AT&amp;T's iPhone hasn't received rave reviews as a phone. Many users, particularly those in dense urban areas, have long complained that making a call and keeping it once they're connected could be difficult. Those issues caused a lot of consumers to look to the long-rumored Verizon iPhone as the cure to their reception woes. And now that Big Red'siPhone is finally a reality, we've been able to put it to the test.Below you'll find voice samples from both iPhones. We used the same process that we're now including in all CNET cell phone reviews. Using the test device, we call a landline phone from the CNET offices and leave a scripted message. We then take the audio from that voice mail and put it in the media player that you see below.The difference between the two samples is striking. Admittedly, we had a difficult time actually describing that difference, since we're not trained audio engineers. Yet, we can surmise that the Verizon sample is clearer and sharper, but also a bit tinnier and harsher. In contrast, the AT&amp;T sample sounds a bit warmer, but my voice sounds a little softer than it normally is. Verizon iPhone 4 call quality sampleListen now: AT&amp;T iPhone 4 call quality sampleListen now: Hopefully, this gives you an idea of how much a carrier's network can affect call quality. As you'll listen here, the same device (well, almost the same device) can sound completely different. We've also conducted extensive testing of signal strength and data speeds, so we invite you to check out these results as well. And, of course, please see our Verizon iPhone 4 review for the full analysis of a handset that a good number of people have been eagerly awaiting for years.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Firefox beta getting new database standard]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-beta-getting-new-database-standard</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-beta-getting-new-database-standard</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-beta-getting-new-database-standard</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The ninth beta version ofFirefox, due imminently, is set to get support for a standard called IndexedDB that provides a database interface useful for offline data storage and other tasks needing information on a browser's computer.&quot;IndexedDB allows Web apps to store large amounts of data on your local system (with your explicit permission, of course) for fast offline retrieval at a later time. We're hoping that Web mail, TV listings, and online purchase history will one day be as convenient to access offline as they are online,&quot; Ben Turner, who develops IndexedDB for Mozilla's browser, said yesterday in a blog post.Firefox 4 beta 9 has been built, is being tested, and should become available soon. After that Mozilla presently plans to ship a 10th beta, release candidates, and a final Firefox 4 version in February.One of the primary uses of IndexedDB is offline access to data used by Web applications. Google has offered such access to Gmail and Google Docs, for example, using a now-discontinued technology called Gears' it's likely the promised re-emergence of that technology in early 2011 will use IndexedDB.Mozilla and Microsoft backed IndexedDB, which originated with an Oracle engineer, after raising concerns about a rival technology called Web SQL. Although Web SQL is built into Apple'sSafari, Google's Chrome, and Opera (and Gears used the same approach), theWorld Wide Web Consortium (W3C) dropped Web SQL standardization work. Even though the SQL technology for database interaction is well known among many programmers, Web SQL standardization was hampered by the fact that its implementation was tied to a specific program, SQLite, not to a standard interface.Google is building IndexedDB support into Chrome, and Microsoft looks likely to follow suit once the standard settles down. Currently Microsoft offers an experimental IE extension for developers.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple updates iWork.com with Keynote playback]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-updates-iwork-com-with-keynote-playback</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-updates-iwork-com-with-keynote-playback</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-updates-iwork-com-with-keynote-playback</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)Apple today sent a note to users of its iWork.com public beta program informing them of updates made to the system.There were two major features added to iWork.com: Keynote presentation playback and new publishing options, according to the e-mail sent by Apple.With Keynote '09 presentation playback, users viewing your shared Keynote documents will be able to see the presentations as they were meant to be viewed, with animations, video, hyperlinks, and audio if those are part of your presentation. Playback is supported using the latest version of Safari on theMac and PC. You can also view the presentation using an iPad,iPhone oriPod Touch, which allows you to swipe the screen to advance the slides. iWork.com will also now allow users to create a public link so you are able to share the uploaded documents on social-media sites. You can also use the supplied embed code to post your shared documents on your Web site.  You will need an Apple ID to access your iWork.com space. Using Apple's iWork suite of applications, you can post documents to the service by going to the Share menu and choosing &quot;Share via iWork.com.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gmail Call Recording Appears To Be Rolling Out&nbsp'Widely]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gmail-call-recording-appears-to-be-rolling-outnbspwidely</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gmail-call-recording-appears-to-be-rolling-outnbspwidely</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gmail-call-recording-appears-to-be-rolling-outnbspwidely</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Back in August, Gmail launched what is perhaps my favorite new feature ever: integration with Google Voice, which lets you make and receive calls directly from your computer.Earlier this month, there were some initial reports that Google had improved on this feature with a nifty addition: the ability to record inbound Google Voice calls directly from Gmail. Now it looks like Google is rolling out the feature more broadly a4&quot; we&amp;'ve polled a few people and they&amp;'re all seeing it, and there are plenty of reports on Twitter of people noticing it for the first time.Now, Google Voice has let users record some phone calls for a long time, but it&amp;'s not exactly intuitivea4sa4&quot;a4syou have to hit the number &amp;'4&amp;8242' on your keypad (most people probably don&amp;'t even realize they can do this). The feature is only available on inbound calls, and there&amp;'s a verbal notification given to both parties on the call that recording has been activated.The Gmail implementation seems identical in terms of functionality a4&quot; you can still only record inbound calls, and there&amp;'s the same notification when you activate it. But it&amp;'s a heck of a lot more convenient. a4sA new &amp;8216'record&amp;' button sits just above the dialpad, and it&amp;'ll probably introduce a lot of people to the handy feature for the first time.There do seem to be a couple caveats: first, as mentioned earlier, this is only available on inbound calls. Second, it looks like this doesn&amp;'t work on voice calls that are routed directly from one Gmail contact to another (without using Google Voice).We&amp;'ve reached out to Google to see if the feature has been activated for everyone.CrunchBase InformationGmailGoogle VoiceInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Big data draws big money as IA Ventures raises $50M fund]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=big-data-draws-big-money-as-ia-ventures-raises-50m-fund</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=big-data-draws-big-money-as-ia-ventures-raises-50m-fund</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=big-data-draws-big-money-as-ia-ventures-raises-50m-fund</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Roger Ehrenberg, a former Wall Street investor, launched IA Ventures earlier this year to invest in startups that leverage a4Abig dataa4. Now that big data is attracting big cash from limited partners as the fund has raised $50M, Dan Primack of Fortune reports.Ehrenberg has been an active New York angel investor for many years, investing in companies like Tweetdeck, Bit.ly, and Buddy Media.IA Ventures has already made 15 investments, including daily deal aggregator Yipit and pre-launch banking startup Bank Simple. While Ehrenberg was initially raising a $25 million fund from non-traditional sources like prop-trading desks and hedge funds, interest from traditional funding sources like foundations and pension funds caused Ehrenberg to reopen the fund. The fund ended up 50 percent oversubscribed.Entrepreneurs from IA portfolio companies burnished Roger Ehrenberga4a4s credentials as a data expert.a4AIf youa4a4re a startup working on solving a problem with huge data sets, it is irresponsible not to talk to Roger Ehrenberg. a4A said Vincius Vacanti, co-founder of daily deal aggregator Yipit.Vacanti cited a IA Ventures portfolio event with outside data luminaries like Tim Oa4a4Reilly, Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson, and Bit.ly Chief Scientist Hilary Mason.a4AIt was amazing,a4 Vacanti said.Some industry observers have wondered how seed investors raising bigger funds are going to adjust their investing strategy, Ehrenberg doesna4a4t believe it will have a significant effect. &amp;''Going to $50 million doesn&amp;'t change our strategy of seed and early-stage investing in big data,a4 Ehrenberg told Fortune, a4Abut it does provide us additional capital to &amp;''pursue a life-cycle approach to supporting our companies.&amp;''Next Story: News Corpa4a4s Jon Miller: I cana4a4t confirm our iPad newspaper, but ita4a4s coming in Q1 Previous Story: Is Twitter worth $10 billionPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: IA VenturesPeople: Roger Ehrenberg          Companies: IA VenturesPeople: Roger EhrenbergJacob is an entrepreneur and blogger living in New York City. He is the founder and CEO of Standard Start, a non-profit providing free standardized legal documents and education to startup businesses. He also serves as an advisor to Girls In Tech and Entrepreneur's Roundtable.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[Plastic Logic announces $700M investment to make its plastic e-readers in Russia]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=plastic-logic-announces-700m-investment-to-make-its-plastic-e-readers-in-russia</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=plastic-logic-announces-700m-investment-to-make-its-plastic-e-readers-in-russia</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=plastic-logic-announces-700m-investment-to-make-its-plastic-e-readers-in-russia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Plastic electronics developer Plastic Logic is raising $700 million in funding, the company announced today. The investment will be used in part to build the world&amp;'s largest commercial plastic electronics factory in Zelenograd, a Russian city often likened to Silicon Valley.The factory will be the second for Plastic Logic, a company known for its never-released Que e-reader for business professionals. The device was originally announced at DEMO Fall 2008, and after several production delays, Plastic Logic reported plansin August to cancel the original product and move on to a second generation design. In contrast to other e-readers on the market today, the first generation Que, described as a paperless briefcase, featured an all-plastic design, making it thin, lightweight and able to withstand bending.Scheduled to open in 2013 or 2014, the new factory will employ more than 300 people and will be able to produce hundreds of thousands of plastic electronic displays per month. Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta said the company plans to manufacture its displays in both the new Zelenograd factory and in Dresden, Germany, where the company&amp;'s first factory is located. He said the second generation displays, which Plastic Logic expects to release before the new factory opens, are currently being qualified in Dresden.Today&amp;'s announcement includes an initial equity investment of $150 million from theRussian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and a $50 million equity investment from existing investorOak Investment Partners. Plastic Logic is also in the process of closing $100 million in debt financing, for which RUSNANO will provide partial guarantees, and Archuleta said Plastic Logic expects to raise the remaining $400 million in funding before the factory opens.Founded in 2000 by researchers at Cambridge University, Plastic Logic has headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. and has already raised more than $200 million in funding from investors including Oak Investment Partners, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, Morningside Group and Tudor Investments. RUSNANO was founded in 2007 to foster developments in nanotechnology.Previous Story: Will eBay be responsible for revealing street artist Banksy&amp;'s secret identityPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: plastic displaysCompanies: Amadeus Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Morningside Group, Oak INvestment Partners, Plastic Logic, Rusnano, Tudor InvestmentsPeople: Richard Archuleta          Tags: plastic displaysCompanies: Amadeus Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Morningside Group, Oak INvestment Partners, Plastic Logic, Rusnano, Tudor InvestmentsPeople: Richard ArchuletaVentureBeat 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[It&'s alive: IBM&'s Watson supercomputer defeats humans in final Jeopardy match]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itrsquos-alive-ibmrsquos-watson-supercomputer-defeats-humans-in-final-jeopardy-match</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itrsquos-alive-ibmrsquos-watson-supercomputer-defeats-humans-in-final-jeopardy-match</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kyblackr</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itrsquos-alive-ibmrsquos-watson-supercomputer-defeats-humans-in-final-jeopardy-match</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The machines are taking over! IBM&amp;'s Watson supercomputer soundly defeated its human opponents in the final round of man vs. machine on the Jeopardy TV show.The computer defeated Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, after a three-night tournament that drew lots of chatter about the progress of artificial intelligence. It&amp;'s a testament to the talented human engineers at IBM who figured out how to make a machine that could beat a human at the popular TV game show.The final show aired tonight, first on the East Coast where IBM threw a party in New York at a place called spin NYC. On the West Coast, I watched the show at a comedy club in San Francisco where a group of IBMers and press are gathered. They cheered when Watson came back with the correct answer on the final question.John Prager, an IBM researcher, explained how Watson decides what to bet and how to answer. It basically tries to come up with a precise answer, by matching the text in a question to the text in its memory. If there is no match, it takes a guess based on a confidence level, after doing a series of calculations on the probabilities of a right answer. It does so in real time.At the opening of the show, Alex Trebek talked about how fast Watson was and its tendency to make random bets on the Daily Double and Final Jeopardy wagers. Watson took off on an early lead, but Jennings and Rutter made a comeback. During the competition, Watson correctly answered questions about Sin City (&amp;''What is Las Vegas&amp;'') and Bison City (&amp;''What is Buffalo&amp;'') and even a question about a Simpsons episode.Watson won by making a $17,000-plus Final Jeopardy bet on the answer &amp;''William Wilkinson&amp;'s &amp;8216'An account of the principalities of Wallachia and Modavia&amp;' inspired this author&amp;'s most famous novel.&amp;'' Watson answered, &amp;''Who is Bram Stoker&amp;'' Watson ended the three-day run with $77,147, while Jennings had $24,000 and Rutter had $21,600.Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was developed by 25 researchers over four years. The software runs on a supercomputer with 2,880 IBM Power750 cores, or computing brains, and 15 terabytes of memory. One of Watson&amp;'s advantages is that it can hit the buzzer to answer a question faster than any human possibly can &amp;8212' six to 10 milliseconds. Watson won $1 million and all of its winnings will be donated to charity.IBM describes Watson as a4Aan analytical computing system that specializes in natural human  language and provides specific answers to complex questions at rapid  speeds.a4 That Watson can tackle a game as complex as Jeopardy shows just  how much IBM has progressed since it developed Deep Blue, the supercomputer that defeated chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, as VentureBeat&amp;'s Devindra Hardawar remarked after last night&amp;'s show. Deep Blue relied heavily on  mathematical calculations, while Watson has to interpret human  language, a far more difficult task.According to Stephen Baker, author of Final Jeopardy, a book about  the Watson Jeopardy challenge, the supercomputer has difficulty with the  Final Jeopardy portion of the game because it cana4a4t refuse to answer if  it has a bad guess. With a normal question, Watson can just choose not  to answer and look smarter in the process.Watson cannot respond to video or audio clues and the producers of the show agreed to omit them, just as they do for the visually or hearing impaired. Jeopardy is considered an ideal show for testing artificial intelligence because it covers such a broad range of topics and requires a mastery of natural language.Baker spoke to All Things Digital about Watsona4a4s mistake on Tuesday night, where he elaborated on how it can appear both  smart and stupid at the same time. IBM has also put up a blog post that delves into Watsona4a4s Final Jeopardy trouble.Video of the match isna4a4t available online yet, but you can check out a preview match between Watson, Jennings and Rutter (where the humans were also destroyed).At the end of the San Francisco event, I asked Prager, &amp;''How do you get from Watson to Skynet&amp;'' That&amp;'s a reference to the computer network in the Terminator movies that comes alive and tries to extinguish the human race. Prager said, &amp;''I don&amp;'t see a path to get to Skynet and I don&amp;'t know anyone who is working on that. I don&amp;'t see a path to HAL either.&amp;'' HAL is the computer that goes berserk in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And, of course, HAL&amp;'s initials are one letter off from the next letters of the alphabet: IBM.Previous Story: Why is Visa interested in mobile payment company SquarePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: WatsonCompanies: IBMPeople: Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings          Tags: WatsonCompanies: IBMPeople: Brad Rutter, Ken JenningsDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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