
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / mamapapa2010 / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[How long a wait for PCs, Macs with fixed Intel chip]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-long-a-wait-for-pcs-macs-with-fixed-intel-chip</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-long-a-wait-for-pcs-macs-with-fixed-intel-chip</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-long-a-wait-for-pcs-macs-with-fixed-intel-chip</guid>
<description><![CDATA[How long is the wait for new PCs and Macs packing fixed versions of Intel's latest and greatest silicon That question has PC makers, not to mention performance junkies, on tenterhooks. Update: Note that Intel updated the shipment status on Monday after this article was posted. Sandy Bridge is Intel&amp;39's first full 32-nanometer processor and boasts improved graphics. (Credit:Intel)Intel announced on January 31 that it had stopped shipments of the &quot;Cougar Point&quot; chipset that accompanies its second-generation Intel Core (&quot;Sandy Bridge&quot;) processor owing to a flaw that can affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology. Launched at this year'sCES, Sandy Bridge--or &quot;Second Generation Intel Core Processor&quot;--is the first mainstream Intel chip to integrate graphics silicon directly onto the processor, allowing Intel to improve power efficiency as well as multimedia and gaming capabilities. How long will it take Intel to get back up to speedIntel VP Stephen Smith's response to a question during a conference call on January 31 to discuss the chipset glitch provides probably the best idea of how long the delay will be for the Sandy Bridge dual-core chips that most consumers will get with their systems. &quot;We were planning to launch those mainstream systems with dual core in a few weeks. And this will likely push out the window of launch a few weeks relative to our plans,&quot; he said. Smith continued. &quot;And we need to understand from the OEMs [PC makers] how quickly they can refill their pipelines with this new Cougar Point chipset and get that into their build. Our expectation is that that can happen fairly quickly because really those lines are already set up for Sandy Bridge ramp. But net-net effect of launch is probably measured in a few weeks.&quot; That sounds a lot like late this month at the earliest. And what are PC makers saying about schedulesNot much. PC makers are, for the most part, releasing details on systems that have been affected. Dell, for instance, said it pulled four systems, including desktops and laptops. Toshiba also listed a bevy of laptops that are being yanked from sales. Hewlett-Packard is providing, by way of its online sales site, probably one of the most precise delivery target dates. An HP Pavilion dv7tqe laptop with a Sandy Bridge processor is now listed with a shipment date of March 4--roughly a month from now. Other Pavilion Sandy Bridge-based laptops also have a March 4 shipment date. And note that HP's March date is for laptops with quad-core Sandy Bridge processors. The quad-core versions were the first Sandy Bridge chips shipped from Intel and configurations have been available with those processors from some PC makers since January. On the other hand, dual-core Sandy Bridge systems were not shipping from top-tier laptop vendors at the time of Intel's announcement on January 31 so estimated shipment dates are even less clear. PC makers such as Panasonic and Fujitsu had made announcements in Japan for laptops with dual-core Core i5 Sandy Bridge chips slated for &quot;spring.&quot; How the recall will affect these systems is unknown. And retailersRetailers like Best Buy have been literally pulling Sandy Bridge systems off the shelves, scrubbing their online sale sites of systems, and postponing shipments that were expected to arrive in the near future. That said, for now, HP's online ordering estimates are probably a reasonable ETA for retailers. A representative at Fry's Electronics in Palo Alto, Calif.--a major electronics retailer--told CNET yesterday that Intel had announced that replacements for motherboards with Sandy Bridge silicon should be out by the end of February. What about Apple MacBooks and Macs in generalApple does not have any Sandy Bridge-based systems, nor has it announced any. Apple's MacBook lineup, for instance, consists of old Core 2 Duo processors (MacBook, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro) and last-generation Core i5 and i7 processors (15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros). To be fair, last-generation Core i5 and i7 processors comprise the preponderance of laptop processors at PC vendors like HP, Dell, Toshiba, and Sony. So, with the exception of the small form factor MacBooks, Apple's processor lineup is no different from the PC guys. But there have been fairly cogent arguments made and rumors floated that a Sandy Bridge MacBook refresh would hit soon. So, the question is, how far does this push out a highly probable future rollout of Sandy Bridge-based models If Apple was planning a February or March refresh, then there are obvious delays. If the rollout was planned for late spring or early summer, then the delay would probably be minimal. This schedule would also apply to Apple's iMac, for example, which currently uses last-generation Core i3 and Core i5 chips. Sandy Bridge is a (very) new processor line: Remember that Intel caught this glitch in the chipset early. Sandy Bridge was just announced in January and systems had just begun to make it to retailers and PC makers' online ordering databases. And those first Sandy Bridge systems were not mass-market but rather pricey, high-end PCs that relatively few people would buy. So, we may never know with any certainty how long unannounced systems from companies like HP, Dell, and Apple were delayed. Updated at at 3:20 p.m. PST: adding information about Sandy Bridge shipping status update. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[FCC moves to dismiss Net neutrality lawsuits]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-moves-to-dismiss-net-neutrality-lawsuits</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-moves-to-dismiss-net-neutrality-lawsuits</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-moves-to-dismiss-net-neutrality-lawsuits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Federal Communications Commission last week asked a federal court to dismiss lawsuits filed by cell phone service providers Verizon Communications and MetroPCS that challenge the FCC's new Net neutrality regulations.The FCC said in a statement that the companies filed their suits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit too early. The new rules that were approved by the Commission in December have not taken effect yet.&quot;The rules that govern when and how parties may challenge FCC orders are clear, and Verizon and MetroPCS filed too early when they challenged the Open Internet order,&quot; the FCC said in a press release. Verizon and Metro PCS recently filed separate lawsuits in the same appeals court challenging the FCC's new Net neutrality rules. These rules will prevent broadband providers from blocking or favoring their own traffic over competing services' traffic. The FCC argues that the lawsuits were filed too early. Most legal challenges occur after an FCC order has been published in the Federal Register. This has not happened yet in the case of the Net neutrality regulations. Verizon and MetroPCS each said in their suits there are certain exceptions and their cases should be considered early before the rules take effect.The FCC also questions whether the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the appropriate venue for the case. This is a key point, since the D.C. Circuit is the same court that last year said that the FCC had overstepped its authority when it sanctioned Comcast for violating the agency's Net neutrality principles. But Verizon has argued that the D.C. Circuit has exclusive jurisdiction over the case, because this court can hear cases where FCC licenses have been modified. And Verizon argues that the new rules retroactively alter the license agreements that Verizon has with the FCC. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sony to mSpot: Get off of my cloud]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-mspot-get-off-of-my-cloud</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-mspot-get-off-of-my-cloud</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-mspot-get-off-of-my-cloud</guid>
<description><![CDATA[One of the chief concerns that some in the music industry have about digital-locker services is that at least a couple of them allow all songs, even pirated tunes, to be stored in the cloud. Before music owners store their songs in the cloud, do they need to pay the music labels (Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)Thomas Hesse, digital chief for Sony Music Entertainment, said as much at the Midem conference in France on Saturday, according to Billboard. &quot;We are very uncomfortable with a model where you can just throw anything into the cloud and stream it, if what you threw into the cloud was not legitimately purchased,&quot; Hesse said during a panel session. &quot;It's not the right thing to do to launch a service under these kinds of shady legal situations. We will do everything in our power to enforce our rights in those kinds of situations.&quot;Cloud music services, such as mSpot and MP3tunes.com, enable digital music owners to store songs on their servers and access them via Web-enabled devices. Cloud music is the wave of the future, or at least that's what many predict. Apple and Google spoke to the labels last year about the possibility of building their own offerings. Nobody knows for sure if consumers will take to the cloud services. On the periphery of all the hype is a controversy over whether these services must acquire licenses from the major labels to operate legally. If the services aren't obligated to seek permission, then the labels could find themselves cut out of cloud music. Participating on the same panel with Hesse was Daren Tsui, CEO of mSpot, a locker service that launched without the labels' blessing. So, Hesse wasn't just blowing off steam. He was sending a message. (Centuries ago, men would slap each other in the face with empty gloves to signal they were ready to fight. The modern equivalent is to issue thinly veiled legal threats during a conference panel.)According to Billboard, Tsui responded to Hesse's throwing down of the gauntlet with a terse: &quot;It's not our job to police how [consumers] get their music.&quot; As for the law, it's unclear whether cloud services need the labels' permission to operate. There's not yet a legal precedent, as Billboard writer Anthony Bruno correctly pointed out. But we could have one soon. EMI, the smallest of the four largest record companies, filed a copyright lawsuit in 2007 against MP3tunes.com, the locker service launched by Michael Robertson, founder of pioneering locker service MP3.com (now owned by CBS, parent company of CNET). EMI said its suit has nothing to do with protecting cloud turf and everything to do with simple copyright violations. EMI alleges that MP3tunes.com encourages people to pirate music via a search engine owned by Robertson, Sideload.com. EMI claims that Robertson then offers his customers a place to stash their illegally obtained songs: MP3tunes.com. Robertson said that his lawsuit is part of an attempt by EMI and the other top labels to charge people to store previously purchased songs' a double dip. In response to Hesse's comments, Robertson told CNET: &quot;I'm uncomfortable with a model in which record labels demand payments forever from consumers who want to listen to their personal collections online and on any device they own. I'd also remind Mr. Hesse and others in the music business that storing music collections online is specifically allowed by the DMCA.&quot;A federal court judge in New York is supposed to decide the case between EMI and Robertson sometime this year. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Honda's fun little hybrid]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hondas-fun-little-hybrid</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hondas-fun-little-hybrid</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hondas-fun-little-hybrid</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)With its historical association to the CR-X, Honda's CR-Z elicited much enthusiasm from the tuner crowd, a group that doesn't generally favor hybrids. But the CR-Z is far from a typical hybrid, most of which are suburban commutecars with no attempt at sport looks or handling. But it also shows little advantage from its hybrid engine, never a strong point from Honda.Ultimately, the CR-Z is a mixed bag. It handles very well, but the engine generates little power, and it takes a while to hit 60 mph. It employs a hybrid system and can turn off the engine at stop lights, but the power train runs rough. The instrument cluster has an excellent futuristic look, but the navigation system is circa 2005.Check out our 2011 Honda CR-Z review.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Best Buy vs. Amazon: MacBook Air edition]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-vs--amazon-macbook-air-edition</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-vs--amazon-macbook-air-edition</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 08:13:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=best-buy-vs--amazon-macbook-air-edition</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Amazon may offer one of the best holiday deals on the red-hot MacBook Air. But don't count out California retail giant Fry's Electronics before doing the usual comparison with Best Buy. The 11.6-inch MacBook Air can be had for $959 at Amazon. But Fry&amp;39's beats that by a few dollars.(Credit:Amazon)Amazon is serving up a pretty good deal on the popular 11.6-inch MacBook Air, offering the MC505LL/A model right now for $959, which Apple lists for $999 (1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, 64GB flash memory drive, and 2GB RAM). This was based on a price check I did Saturday morning Pacific Time. Which brings me to a caveat: the price can change quickly, as demand for this unit appears to be high. Fry's Electronics--whose giant warehouse-size stores are located mostly in California and Texas--will beat that price, though. At a Fry's I visited Friday night in Los Angeles, the MC505LL/A Air model was on sale for $949. Fry&amp;39's, a California phenomenon, beats all rivals on decor.(Credit:Brooke Crothers)Not to be outdone, the MacConnection is selling the same model for $1 less, at $948. Though the online store shows it &quot;on order.&quot; Amazon is also offering the 11.6-inch MacBook Air model MC506LL/A (which ups the flash drive capacity to 128GB from 64GB) for $1,148.99, a discount of $50 off the list price. So far, Best Buy isn't offering any special deals on the new MacBook Air. (Correction: The current-generation 13.3-inch model is available for $1,299 with a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB Memory, and a 128GB flash memory drive. That's a few hundred dollars less than I paid for the similarly-configured, prior-generation 13.3-inch model with a 1.86GHz processor, the same-capacity solid-state drive and same amount of memory. Ironically, that older model is listed for $1,699 on Best Buy's site. Go figure. ) And let me add as a postscript: Fry's beats Best Buy handily (for effort, not necessarily the result) on interior decorating. (Amazon can't compete because it has no brick-and-mortar stores.) I've been to Fry's stores all over California--Palo Alto, Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles, and throw in Phoenix, Arizona, too--and I always find myself gawking and/or scratching my head at the curious dioramas that usually occupy a corner of the store (see photo). And decor, as well as bargains, usually get amped up during the holidays.Updated at 9:30 p.m. PST: correcting for current 13.3-inch MacBook Air model with 1.86GHz processor.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Robots meet solar at Solyndra Fab 2]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-meet-solar-at-solyndra-fab-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-meet-solar-at-solyndra-fab-2</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:11:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-meet-solar-at-solyndra-fab-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Robotics manufacturing tends to evoke visions of a John Henry-esque scenario in which competent women and men lose jobs to hunks of automated metal.But in the case of Solyndra it may be robots that help American workers compete more effectively against China's low-cost labor force.The cylindrical shape allows Solyndra&amp;39's modules to collect sunlight in various forms.(Credit:Solyndra)Consider the video that solar manufacturer Solyndra released this week illustrating how thin-film CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, and selenide) solar modules are produced.In reality, the video (see below) is a showcase for the company's new state-of-the-art solar manufacturing plant, built with a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, and $198 million in funding led by Argonaut Private Equity.The futuristic Solyndra Fab 2 integrates robotics manufacturing with 1,000 human workers to build unique cylindrical solar modules. The thin-film panels are made of a series of tubes that facilitate the capture of direct, diffuse, and reflected sunlight, which maximizes efficiency while making rotation toward the sun throughout the day unnecessary, according to Solyndra.Solyndra's video shows an impressive cadre of robots, with workers directing their automated partners from laptops or from touch screens mounted on walls. The narrator tells of RFID tags enabling parts to be traced and directed to where they need to go, special LED lights used to mimic solar rays in quality checks, and a manufacturing capacity that will eventually ramp up to 1 million solar modules a week.Solyndra Fab 2 from Solyndra, Inc. on Vimeo.But this Fab 2 showcase is not just a pitch for Solyndra. It's a pitch for American technology prowess.President Obama used Solyndra as the backdrop for his &quot;We've got to go back to making things&quot; speech in May. The White House has also been holding the company up as a positive example of U.S.green tech and manufacturing innovation. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu were both present at Fab 2's groundbreaking ceremony.It's also test case for whether America can still be competitive when it comes to manufacturing.Solyndra makes thin-film flexible solar modules using CIGS cells, rather than silicon, as the absorbent layer. This alternative to traditional solar panels had an edge in the past because they were inexpensive to manufacture and install compared to silicon solar cells. But as China has ramped up its silicon solar production and the cost of manufacturing silicon solar cells has dropped, there has been a changing dynamic in the industry.Solyndra announced in early November that it was closing its old manufacturing plant near Fab 2. The change resulted in 40 Solyndra employees being laid off and another 150 subcontractors not having their contracts renewed.At the time, the company said that its old plant was simply not able to keep up with production at a competitive or cost-effective rate. Coincidentally, a month early Suntech, the Chinese thin-film solar manufacturer, had announced three key partnerships that many said would further redefine the economics of manufacturing.The Fab 2 plant is much more efficient and will reduce production costs compared to its old facility, Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison has told The New York Times.Only future financial reports from Solyndra will reveal whether Fab 2 and its team of robots and humans is really efficient enough to compete globally against both silicon solar and thin-film counterparts.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA['Avatar': Behind the scenes at Weta Digital]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Instead of computer-animating the Na&amp;39'vi, &amp;34'Avatar&amp;34' creators used a technique known as &amp;34'motion capture,&amp;34' which helps to create more natural-looking characters. Click on the image for more pictures from the behind-the-scenes tour.(Credit:Ty Pendlebury/CNET Australia)New Zealand may be known as the home of &quot;Lord of the Rings,&quot; but you may not know that it's also the unofficial birthplace of &quot;Avatar.&quot; You see, Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in Wellington is behind the special effects of films such as &quot;Heavenly Creatures&quot; and &quot;Prince Caspian.&quot; But more famously, it has produced the effects in both the &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; trilogy and &quot;Avatar.&quot; In fact, the company was working up until July to finish work on the Extended Edition of the &quot;Avatar&quot; Blu-ray version. To celebrate the release of the Avatar Extended Collector's Edition, CNET Australia got to go behind the scenes at Weta studios to witness how the movie was made. As this extensive photo gallery shows, we were taken through each step of the process--from motion capture through to the finished product.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Health care: Ita4a4s time for technology]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=health-care-itâÂ€Â™s-time-for-technology</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=health-care-itâÂ€Â™s-time-for-technology</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Science</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=health-care-itâÂ€Â™s-time-for-technology</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This is part of a series of posts about cutting-edge areas of innovation. The series is sponsored by Microsoft. Microsoft authors will participate, as will VentureBeat writers and outside experts.Here&amp;'s a sobering thought: I can walk into any local car dealership and buy a $30,000 piece of merchandise, leaving nothing behind but my signature &amp;8212' but if I show up that same day at the hospital, unconscious after a collision in my new car, there&amp;'s not a soul in that emergency room who will know what medications Ia4a4m taking, what allergies I have or where my living will is stored.Even the most partisan players in the debate over health care reform agree on two things. One, that this is crazy. And two, that technology can help. The good news is that, over the last few years, the tech industry has stepped up and is beginning to deliver solutions that will make a real difference.One particularly promising class of solutions revolves around personal empowerment &amp;8212' platforms, tools and services that enable individuals to become active participants in their own care. For example, both Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health provide free, secure accounts where patients can organize their health information and easily share it with their doctors and nurses.And these arena4a4t mere online a4Alock boxesa4 &amp;8212' they are connected platforms that technology companies can build out to create even more value. For example, blood glucose meters like LifeScana4a4s OneTouch (see below) can automatically upload readings to HealthVault, and from there they can be shared not only with doctors, but nutritionists and family members (based on user preferences, of course). And that same information can sync with services like MyVitalData to make sure the right information is there in the emergency room when ita4a4s really needed.For these innovations to matter, ita4a4s critical that individuals are able to share their information freely and simply, so that ita4a4s available where and when ita4a4s needed. Wea4a4ve worked hard with HealthVault to deliver on this promise, reaching out to connect with hospitals, doctors, fax machines &amp;8212' even traditional competitors like our friends at Google Health.People are ready for this new world. About 83 percent have searched for health care information on the web' 3.1 million Kaiser Permanente patients access their personalized health portal, with 163,000 visits per day and a 91.2 percent satisfaction rate. Health-focused social networking sites like PatientsLikeMe are redefining the way people live with chronic diseases. And HealthVault alone has hundreds of partners working to connect their solutions into this new a4Apersonal health universe.a4Additionally, the Obama administration recognizes the potential for health IT innovations to both reduce costs and improve patient care, and has begun to allocate significant government dollars to the effort. While it is unclear how the current health care reform efforts will impact the adoption of health IT in coming years, it is clear that innovations in the health IT industry will continue to play a role in modernizing and improving our medical system.Here&amp;'s an overview of several technologies that will make a difference in coming months and years:Microsoft HealthVault is a free and secure personal health application platform that allows people to collect, store and share their health information with family members and participating healthcare providers, as well as provides a choice of third-party applications and devices to help users manage things such as fitness, diet and health.Google Health is a free, Web-based service that enables users to organize health information, gather medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies, and share information securely with a family member, doctors or caregivers.LifeScana4a4s OneTouch family of products are blood glucose monitoring devices for people with diabetes, offering fast, accurate blood glucose testing along with 24-hour toll-free service and support.MyVitalData Emergency Communication Gateway manages health information within a secure network of hospitals, first responders and disaster response organizations to ensure healthcare providers have your most up-to-date and critical information.Sean Nolan is the chief architect and general manager of the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft, where he directs all aspects of product development and operations for the consumer health platform. His specific responsibilities include product definition and design, partner engagement and support, product execution, quality assurance, customer support, and ongoing operations.Next Story: Report: Twitter may close $100 million round today Previous Story: Ugolog let&amp;'s you keep an eye on your home while you&amp;'re not therePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: co:google, LifeScan, Microsoft, MyVitalData, PatientsLikeMe          Companies: co:google, LifeScan, Microsoft, MyVitalData, PatientsLikeMeSean Nolan is the chief architect and general manager of the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft, where he directs all aspects of product development and operations for the consumer health platform. His specific responsibilities include product definition and design, partner engagement and support, product execution, quality assurance, customer support, and ongoing operations.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Zynga has its best launch ever with CityVille social game]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-has-its-best-launch-ever-with-cityville-social-game</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-has-its-best-launch-ever-with-cityville-social-game</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-has-its-best-launch-ever-with-cityville-social-game</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Zynga said today that it had its best social game launch ever with the debut of CityVille last week. In its first 24 hours, more than 290,000 people played the city-building simulation game on Facebook.That&amp;'s important to the company, which is the largest app publisher on Facebook, as it constantly needs to add new players in order to make up for those who stop playing its games. Past Zynga games that have had good launches have gone on to having tens of millions of users.Zynga&amp;'s previous biggest launch was FrontierVille, which had more than 116,000 players in its first day. Now, more than 6.5 million people play FrontierVille every day. So far, more than 2.7 million homes have been built in CityVille. Residents have created 500,000 bakeries and laid down 5 million sections of road, and 25 percent of players have set up franchises in their friends&amp;' games. It looks like Zynga has another hit on its hands.The company certainly needs the hits. Back in the spring, it had more than 260 million monthly active users on Facebook, according to market researcherAppData. Now the company has 193.8 million users. That&amp;'s due in no small part to the fact that Facebook has shut down a channel that many game makers were using to virally spread word of their offerings (non-gamers had complained that these communications were spam). Zynga is still No. 1 on Facebook by far, but it needs games like CityVille to keep refreshing its audience. FarmVille is still Zynga&amp;'s top game with 53.8 million monthly active users, which is down from its peak at around 83 million.AppData reports that CityVille has 916,799 monthly active players so far, including 251,860 gained today. It has a long way to go before it hits the top 15 on Facebook, where the lowest game has 12.8 million monthly active users.Next Story: If WikiLeaks founder turns himself in, will the cyber leak war end Previous Story: Viber gets 1M downloads in 3 days for dead simple iPhone VoIP callsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: CityVille, Farmville, FrontierVilleCompanies: Facebook, Zynga          Tags: CityVille, Farmville, FrontierVilleCompanies: Facebook, 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Vudu and Walmart launch Twilight Eclipse movie cross-promotion]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vudu-and-walmart-launch-twilight-eclipse-movie-cross-promotion</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vudu-and-walmart-launch-twilight-eclipse-movie-cross-promotion</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vudu-and-walmart-launch-twilight-eclipse-movie-cross-promotion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Vudu continues to cash in on the relationship with its new parent company, Walmart. Starting on Saturday, Walmart will begin selling the Twilight Eclipse movie in the form of DVDs and Blu-ray discs in all of its stores. In each one of those copies, Walmart will provide a coupon for a $5 movie credit on Vudu.If you&amp;'re not familiar with the Twilight series, it&amp;'s the vampire movie of choice for 20 million American teenage girls (I think the movies are pretty good too), thanks to stars like Robert Pattinson. Fans will now be able to buy a physical copy of the film and watch it on their home DVD players or Blu-ray players as well as watch a streamed digital copy of the film on any of their connected devices, such as laptops, Boxee set-tops, or connected TVs.Vudu also offers over 4,000 high-definition movies to choose from, including the original Twilight and Twilight New Moon movies. On Nov. 1, Vudu and Walmart did the same thing with the DVD and Blu-ray purchases of Toy Story 3. The idea is to make the Walmart version of the movie more attractive in order to get more customers. And Vudu itself allows the world&amp;'s biggest physical store retailer to dip its toes in the water of digital distribution.Now that Walmart and Vudu have combined forces,  they can encourage users to buy their combination of a physical movie  and its digital version for the same price. The combination of retail  and digital online distribution is likely to be a powerful one for many  businesses. GameStop, the biggest video game retailer, bought the  digital online game portal Kongregate in order to execute on the same  kind of plan. The big plus is that the retailers get a huge amount of  foot traffic and can point those consumers to digital properties while  theya4a4re in the stores.Vudu announced last week that it would make its streaming movies available on the PC, the Mac, and the Boxee set-top box for the TV via D-Linka4a4s  Boxee service. Walmart bought Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu in the  spring as part of its move into digital distribution of movies. Vudu has  55 employees. Its rivals include Apple TV, Amazon and CinemaNow.Next Story: News Corp a4Awrestlinga4 with MySpacea4a4s future Previous Story: Maxymiser to Optimizely: A/B testing&amp;'s a thing of the pastPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Twilight, Twilight Eclipse, Twilight New MoonCompanies: Vudu, WalmartPeople: Robert Pattinson          Tags: Twilight, Twilight Eclipse, Twilight New MoonCompanies: Vudu, WalmartPeople: Robert PattinsonDean 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Blog plug-in Zemanta scores $3M as it heads towards profitability]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blog-plug-in-zemanta-scores-3m-as-it-heads-towards-profitability</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blog-plug-in-zemanta-scores-3m-as-it-heads-towards-profitability</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blog-plug-in-zemanta-scores-3m-as-it-heads-towards-profitability</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Blog plug-in Zemanta has raised $3 million in venture capital as it attempts to bring a4Asemantica4 blogging to the rest of the world, the company said Wednesday.London-based Zemanta bills itself as a4AYour Blogging Assistant.a4 As such, it provides tools for bloggers that lets them fiddle with content more specific for their blog, suggests related content and pictures promotes posts on online platforms best suited for the bloga4a4s theme.The startup, which was founded in 2007 after winning $100,000 in seed money from well-known tech industry competition Seedcamp, said in a statement it now expects to achieve a profit without further infusions of capital. It was founded by Botjan peti and Andra Tori (pictured).It now has partnerships with major players in the blogging space WordPress and Blogger and had 100,000 active users in October and over 1 million recommendations daily.Zemanta competes primarily with other blog enhancers like Snap and Apture, all of whom are looking to capture a small portion of the over 60 million blogs currently in operation worldwide.The company said in a blog post that it will use the money to further promote innovation within its program and advertising divisions as it turns away from promotion and more towards monetizing itself.a4AEarlier this year we started experimenting with what we call a4promoted recommendations,a4a4a4 said Zemanta. a4AIt really caught attention of large content publishers, so we will be investigating it further. We hate obtrusive banner ads and we know there are much better opportunities. We believe in a4advertising as content.a4a4a4Zemanta received this funding round from previous investorsEden Ventures and Union Square Ventures, bringing its total funding to date to $6 million.Previous Story: Gnip grabs $2M as it teams up with Twitter in new data selling dealPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Social Media, social networking, Social networksCompanies: Apture, Blogger, edenventures, Seedcamp, Snap, Union Square Ventures, wordpress, ZemantaPeople: Andra Tori, Botjan peti          Tags: Social Media, social networking, Social networksCompanies: Apture, Blogger, edenventures, Seedcamp, Snap, Union Square Ventures, wordpress, ZemantaPeople: Andra Tori, Botjan petiRiley McDermid is a contributing reporter to VentureBeat. She was previously the online editor at institutional investing and trading forum Markets Media, which she joined in 2008 from Dow Jones/MarketWatch in New York. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, the Associated Press, Portfolio Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Barrona4a4s. She has won awards from the American Society of Business Publishers and Editors, the Magazine Association of the Southeast, the Mississippi Press Association and the Atlanta Press Club, and was a finalist for the Pacemaker Prize for excellence in news reporting.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Now Over 200 Million Users A Month, Disqus Gets A New Look, Premium Add-Ons, New&nbsp'API]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=now-over-200-million-users-a-month-disqus-gets-a-new-look-premium-add-ons-newnbspapi</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=now-over-200-million-users-a-month-disqus-gets-a-new-look-premium-add-ons-newnbspapi</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=now-over-200-million-users-a-month-disqus-gets-a-new-look-premium-add-ons-newnbspapi</guid>
<description><![CDATA[First, the numbers. The Disqus commenting system (which we use on TechCrunch) is now reaching over 200 million people a month,&amp;nbsp'according&amp;nbsp'to their Quantcast data. That means it took them only about 6 months to double traffic. And by that measurement, it makes them the fourth largest U.S. network, with over 95 million of those users based in this country. There are now 500,000 communities and websites using the service. And there are over 18 million profiles and over 160 million conversations across the network.And so today it&amp;'s time for the next step.&amp;nbsp'Currently rolling out across their network, the latest version of Disqus (technically, version 4) brings three key things: a new design/interface, premium add-ons, and a new API.While many of the features users know and love about Disqus remain intact, the service has given a fresh coat of paint to some areas of the commenting system. The biggest changes here are in the deshboard area which admins and moderators use to control the comments on a site. Things have been cleaned up quite a bit, and the end result is a simplified moderation system. End users will also be able to more easily manage their own comments from here.The bigger news is the&amp;nbsp'availability&amp;nbsp'of add-ons. It used to be that certain power features were only available to VIP members of the service that paid for it. These were mainly larger blogs (like this one) that needed and/or wanted more data about their comments through tools like analytics. Now Disqus is giving other sites access to these tools bundled together in smaller packages. For example, while VIP service costs $999 a month, you can pay $19 a month for the Plus service at get access to analytics, realtime updating, moderation reports, admin logs, and preferred support.There is also a Professional package for $199 a month that adds a few things like single sign-on, an advanced theme editor, and partner API access.Speaking of the API, with this version 4 roll-out, it has been completely redesigned from scratch. It&amp;'s still a bit of a work in progress, says co-founder Daniel Ha, but it should be more powerful. In fact, the new Disqus website is running off of it.This new API will allow people to better integrate the service into mobile apps, allow them to write plug-ins, and eventually be able to even write their own frontend end for the commenting system. Here&amp;'s the link to the new API docs, and the new console.CrunchBase InformationDISQUSInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[LinkedIn Is Now At 85 Million Members, Adding A Member A&nbsp'Second]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=linkedin-is-now-at-85-million-members-adding-a-member-anbspsecond</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=linkedin-is-now-at-85-million-members-adding-a-member-anbspsecond</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=linkedin-is-now-at-85-million-members-adding-a-member-anbspsecond</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner just dropped some numbers on the LinkedIn social platform&amp;'s measurement of user engagement, revealing that the social network now boasts 85 million members and is adding a member each second.a4s&amp;''That&amp;'s the fastest ever,&amp;'' Weiner said revealing that it took the site 477 days to get the first million and 9 days for last million.&amp;''We have begun to establish critical mass, especially on a global basis,&amp;'' said Weiner. Indeed, half of new membership now comes from overseas. The site is also close to hitting 60 million monthly uniques according to Comscore which means that a good proportion of its members return visit.LinkedIn currently has $103 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital. You can watch more of today&amp;'s Web 2.0 Summit talks on the Livestream here.CrunchBase InformationJeff WeinerLinkedInInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
