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<title>Haaze.com / marcelmmlc / All</title>
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<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Many top iPhone, Android apps face security woes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=many-top-iphone-android-apps-face-security-woes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=many-top-iphone-android-apps-face-security-woes</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=many-top-iphone-android-apps-face-security-woes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Some of the most popular applications available for theiPhone andAndroid handsets suffer from serious security issues, a recent study from security firm ViaForensics has found.According to the security firm's appWatchdog study, a slew of companies, including Foursquare, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Wordpress earned a &quot;fail&quot; rating on storing sensitive data securely. Netflix's Android application, for example, failed to &quot;securely store passwords,&quot; ViaForensics said. Surprisingly, the iPhone version of the Netflix app earned the highest &quot;pass&quot; rating for securely storing passwords.Netflix is taking the findings seriously. In a statement to CNET, a company spokesman said that &quot;Netflix members' privacy and personal-information security are a top priority for Netflix.&quot; The spokesman said that the streaming company will be &quot;making a change on the app&quot; to improve its security.In a blog post discussing the results, the security firm said: &quot;It is ViaForensics' goal that this resource help inform consumers about potential data security risks posed by mobile apps by arming them with objective information and that app developers will be motivated to work hard to take all appropriate measures to secure their apps.&quot; For its part, Foursquare has already taken action to safeguard user data.&quot;If a user's Android device is stolen and the device is not password-protected, then a hacker with malicious intentions may be able to access that user's data,&quot; a Foursquare spokesperson told CNET in an e-mailed statement. &quot;However, we haven't been notified of any such instances by our user base. Nevertheless, we pushed an update to all Android users on Tuesday, June 7, that will make even this type of access unavailable to hackers. We value the security of our users' personal information and are continually making enhancements to clear potential attack vectors that we become aware of.&quot; Even so, ViaForensics' findings are certainly discouraging. The security firm found that LinkedIn failed to securely store application data on both iPhone and Android devices. The Wordpress iPhone application failed in that evaluation, as well. Even Google's Android Gmail application was cited as not storing application data securely. However, the iPhone's Google Gmail App scored at the top on securely storing passwords, usernames, and application data.Not surprisingly, considering the personal nature of the information they store, banking applications scored highly in ViaForensics' testing. Bank of America, Citibank, Fidelity Investments, and Wells Fargo all earned top marks in the study. Most other top apps, however, suffered from at least one security issue.ViaForensics' study is all the more concerning when one considers that mobile applications are becoming far more popular. Earlier this week, In-Stat reported that users will download 48 billion mobile applications to their smartphones in 2015. On Monday, Apple revealed that 14 billion apps had been downloaded from its App Store since 2008. Over 4.5 billion applications have been downloaded from the Android Market.Update at 9:03 a.m. PTto include Netflix statement.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HP acquires managed print services company Printelligent]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-acquires-managed-print-services-company-printelligent</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-acquires-managed-print-services-company-printelligent</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 2011 07:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-acquires-managed-print-services-company-printelligent</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Printelligent)Hewlett-Packard has purchased Printelligent, a Salt Lake City-based provider of managed print services, for an undisclosed amount. HP announced Tuesday that it had acquired all Printelligent's assets, which includes the whole of its corporate infrastructure.For the last 23 years, Printelligent has offered services in the form of experts to oversee the operation of SMB printing environments. Combined with HP's channel partners, existing customer relationships, and current leadership in the print management space, HP hopes that Printelligent's existing assets will strengthen its LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions unit under HP's Imaging and Printing Group.The acquisition is expected to close in the fiscal third quarter, according to the company.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What needs to happen before the iPhone gets NFC]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-needs-to-happen-before-the-iphone-gets-nfc</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-needs-to-happen-before-the-iphone-gets-nfc</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-needs-to-happen-before-the-iphone-gets-nfc</guid>
<description><![CDATA[iPhone 4 users.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)We may not have jet packs yet, but pretty soon plastic will be a thing of the past. At least in our wallets, that is.The technology that will bring us part of the way there is near-field communications (NFC), an exciting tool that lets devices exchange information with one another when in close proximity. So far, its main use has centered on payments, specifically point-of-sale terminals at retailers. In fact, you probably have a credit card from your bank with an NFC chip in it.The next frontier for those little chips is in smartphones. Like wallets, these have become something people carry around with them everywhere they go. More importantly, mobile application stores have warmed users to the idea that the phone can have a direct line of credit with your bank account and some of the same cards you're carrying around.For nearly a year now, a mix of patent filings and third-party reports have pointed at Apple adding NFC to its devices, specifically theiPhone. But none has managed to offer a clear, well-supported stance of what Apple is really up to. CNET talked to two NFC experts about the current mobile payments landscape, and they spelled out some of the hurdles Apple faces not only in putting NFC chips into devices but also in setting up the infrastructure and partnerships to make it a reality.Before delving into the nitty-gritty though, it's worth understanding why would Apple would even venture into NFC in the first place. The simple answer is that it's an enormous business opportunity.&quot;Electronic payments in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve was $40 trillion in 2010,&quot; David Eads, who leads product marketing for Kony Solutions told CNET. &quot;So for every 1 percent of mobile payment adoption that happens of that number, that's $407 billion in transactions.&quot;Eads, who has a background in the mobile payments industry, founded the mobile consultancy Mobile Strategy Partners and held positions at mFoundry and Tealeaf Technology. He explained that the big ticket item in that magic $407 billion number was the &quot;interchange&quot; revenue, which is where various parties get a cut from fees. That can run anywhere from $4 billion to 6 billion on each $407 billion chunk. It also makes things more competitive among the various parties that take fees, since retailers can choose the card or payment provider they want to support.Following the money But the opportunity lies far beyond simple fees. There is the business of partnering with retailers with things like coupons and loyalty programs, which can be stacked on top of the purchasing process. And unlike retrofitting them to work with existing systems, Apple has the potential to start fresh and build that in from the start. &quot;Groupon doesn't make 2 percent of the ticket. They make 50 percent of what's paid,&quot; Todd Ablowitz, who is the president of the Double Diamond Group, another company that does consulting for the electronic payments industry, told CNET. &quot;Everyone is chasing that promotional revenue, and that's where the focus is going to be,&quot; he continued.That everyone includes Google, which recently added support for NFC in its Android OS though has not yet offered up its payment tools for retailers or developers. Near the end of last year, Google came close to buying Groupon and has since refocused its efforts on social deals with its Google Offers platform. There's also Facebook, Amazon, and start-ups like FourSquare, Gowalla, and Loopt, which have carved out deals with retailers to attract mobile phone users with coupons and discounts.Discounts and deals could be putting the carriage in front of the horse though. The core of the technology centers on getting NFC chips into phones and NFC-capable point-of-sale units to flush the market, not to mention getting the underlying systems in place to make sure those two sides of the equation work from place to place and from phone to phone.So what's holding all this up then Part of it has been a chicken and egg problem: putting NFC chips in phones is neat, but if there are no scanners to use them, who wants to put them in the phones Likewise, if there are barely any NFC devices, what's in it for a retailer to upgrade their point-of-sale hardware with an NFC-capable system As my colleague Elinor Mills pointed out in her story about NFC and mobile wallets last month, the GSMA, a trade association representing the Global System for Mobile Communications industry, began pushing handset makers to start including NFC chips in their phones back in 2008, with the end goal of having it be standard practice by late 2009. As we've seen with phone hardware, we're just now getting to the point where NFC is becoming a checkbox feature on phones that aren't geared toward specialty markets or professions.In the interim, all manner of companies have sprung up and jumped in to fill the void, some offering SIM and MicroSD cards with build-in NFC chips, while others offered up stickers containing chips that can be affixed to the back.At this point, it's not a cost issue with the actual hardware, Eads explained. For something like a point-of-sale system, the extra NFC hardware costs around $5, which is a drop in the bucket when you're paying $200 or more for a swiping machine. &quot;The cost is being passed into the merchant,&quot; Eads said. &quot;They can keep the same price point and help the units move faster.&quot; Even so, it might be a hard sell for a business with an already-functioning set of point-of-sale machines to upgrade.All told, there are more than 750,000 point-of-sale terminals that support NFC in the U.S., according to Eads, who says most of those can be found in fast food restaurants, and in places like Wal-Mart Stores and Walgreens. Eads says that amounts to less than 1 percent of the total number of point-of-sale terminals across the United States. Overseas, in places like Japan and Korea, NFC-capable terminals are more common.Apple's clear way to pay &quot;My take on what's missing right now, and the connection to Apple, is the payment mechanism,&quot; Eads said. &quot;The infrastructure to make the leap from the chip in the phone, to getting the merchant paid, that's what's not real clear on the Google platforms and on the other devices. That's why Apple's story is so interesting, because Apple has a clear way to pay, and we've been trained to use it.&quot;Phones with a special microSD memory card and Visa&amp;39's PayWave mobile app can be used to make transactions by holding the device near a reader.(Credit:Elinor Mills/CNET)That &quot;clear way&quot; is the Apple ID system, which now has more than 200 million users signed up to use, all with credit cards or other payment options linked to those accounts. During the iPad 2's unveiling earlier this month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs claimed that the 200 million number made it one of the largest online payment providers in the world. More importantly, it was something customers could use not just in iTunes, but in the iBooks application to buy e-books, and in the App Store to purchase applications. &quot;By Apple adding NFC to the phone, they're really just extending the phone's payment abilities to the checkout, to be able to make that last leap to the phone to the point-of-sale device,&quot; Eads said. &quot;That's the only piece Apple is missing.&quot;So what would it take to get there Will Apple simply partner with some of these existing point-of-sale hardware makers or go its own way with boxes that go out to retailers According to Ablowitz, it's unlikely to go the latter way.&quot;The world of retail does not happen at the same speed as the consumer,&quot; Ablowitz said. &quot;You can get consumers to pitch their cell phones and get a new one, or pitch their Walkman and get aniPod. Getting retailers to change their business practices, you need a return on investment. They don't do it just for cool.&quot; Further proof that Apple would opt to partner over starting from scratch can be seen by looking at the way the company has already approached payments with its own products, Ablowitz offered.&quot;They haven't been trying to their own consumer payment application, they've been partnering with whatever you have in your wallet today on iTunes. So it's a fallacy to think that they'd be unwilling to work with a player,&quot; Ablowitz said. &quot;They just know the difference of when they should build, and when they should partner.&quot;That brings us to one of the last hurdles, which are the carriers. They continue to be the gatekeepers for the data connection that feeds devices like the iPhone when they're outside of a Wi-Fi network. More importantly, there's a contractual agreement that dictates what phones that run on those networks can and cannot do, which companies like Apple are required to adhere to. Apple is credited with helping to change the balance of power between device manufacturers and carriers by taking control not only of things like application distribution but also things like system software updates, marketing, and design. Even so, NFC represents another battleground where Apple is up for a fight.&quot;Carriers recognize through the NFC trials for the last number of years in the mid-2000s that this is wildly popular with consumers,&quot; Albowitz said. &quot;Once consumers try an NFC payment, it's been one of the best responses you will ever see from a consumer product. The carriers recognize that. They know that there's an enormous amount of commerce there, and they don't want to miss what they missed with the App Store.&quot;One thing that sets NFC apart is that your phone doesn't have to be on or even connected to a carrier's network to have it work with NFC readers. The technology can also be set to require a PIN or password code to authenticate its use. That security decision, Ablowitz explained, was still something that was up to the payment provider. But there's a greater level of control being given to the carriers with NFC chips as far as security goes. &quot;The NFC that's in some of the Android phones--like the Samsung phones at Mobile World Congress--the carriers will have full control over that NFC chip,&quot; Eads said. &quot;They'll be responsible for the secure element.&quot; Eads compared the arrangement with the certificate authority for HTTPS, which can offer Web site owners a way to verify themselves to users, and offer a secure connection. &quot;The carriers will have control over that, and they will take a cut of the transaction.&quot;How much of a cut would that be And would Apple simply opt to find a way around that Those two details in particular have likely been a sticking point in bringing any payment platforms to market. In Apple's case, this also represents a particularly important issue given the company's propensity for control, as well as releasing the same product in all markets. With something like the iPhone, Apple would be unlikely to want to manufacture a version of the device that was had a hardware feature in some places but not others. &quot;What needs to happen with Apple, is much bigger than a simple chip,&quot; Ablowitz offered. &quot;They have to make a business decision to bring a service to market. That's every bit as big as iTunes was, or iBooks. They have to deal with the approach for how you get people's payment types onto the phone.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[China to track cell phones for traffic reasons--really]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-to-track-cell-phones-for-traffic-reasons-really</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-to-track-cell-phones-for-traffic-reasons-really</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-to-track-cell-phones-for-traffic-reasons-really</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Chinese government committee announced plans this week to try to ease vehicle traffic congestion by monitoring the whereabouts and movement of millions of mobile phones.&quot;Aha!&quot; you might say, cynically thinking it's a ruse by the government to conduct surveillance on its citizens. But that kind of surveillance is already being done there (as it is in the U.S.).If you had been in the gnarly 62-mile traffic jam that took nine days to clear up near Beijing last August you wouldn't be so suspicious of the news. Beijing, an urban hub in northern China, has a population of more than 22 million.&quot;In Beijing, where [I'm from], the traffic is a nightmare,&quot; Andrew Lih, an associate professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, told CNET today. &quot;They are going from the 1930s to the 1980s in one-fifth the time.... It's a genuine announcement and there's a real need for it, but it seems creepy in American eyes.&quot;The announcement from the Beijing Science and Technology Commission talks about publishing real-time information based on cellular base station technology that can determine how far and in what direction the phones are traveling. The system can target specific congested areas and include public transit systems. Eventually, commuters will be able to get specific information about their routes that can be used to make more efficient travel plans.It's not clear from the announcement exactly how the system will work, but it likely involves triangulating an approximate location of a phone based on signals between the device and cell towers in the area. This may or may not involve the GPS (Global Positioning System) in the phone itself.&quot;GPS is useful, but isn't necessary at this stage' if the cell tower wants it, it can get it,&quot; said Don A. Bailey, a senior security consultant at iSec Partners.&quot;Overall, what they're doing (in China) is not at all strange. They can get as much location information as they want now, so they wouldn't have to create some new program to get it. They'd just get it,&quot; he said.Sure, there is the potential for misuse, but, again, that's nothing new. Telecom providers can see the phone number associated with a phone and get access to the billing information, all of which must be turned over to the government if agents come knocking on the door, according to Bailey.&quot;Not everything China does is underhanded and shady,&quot; he said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Eric Schmidt on Google CEO swap: No big changes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=eric-schmidt-on-google-ceo-swap-no-big-changes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=eric-schmidt-on-google-ceo-swap-no-big-changes</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=eric-schmidt-on-google-ceo-swap-no-big-changes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The big news in Googlea4a4s quarterly earnings call this afternoon was the shift at the top of the company, with Eric Schmidt stepping down from his role as chief executive while continuing on at Google as executive chairman and co-founder Larry Page taking his place.Schmidt, Page, and co-founder Sergey Brin answered a few questions about the change, which is scheduled to take effect April 4. The big emphasis was on continuity. Until now, Schmidt said, the three men have led the company as a &amp;''triumvirate.&amp;'' And while the change simplifies the structure and gives them better-defined individual roles, theya4a4ll still discuss all of the big decisions together.&amp;''I don&amp;'t anticipate any material changes in any of our strategies,a4 Schmidt said, adding that the three men plan to continue working together for a long time.Still, the event did feel a bit like a retirement party, or at least like the torch was being passed. Brin and Page kept praising Schmidt for the great job hea4a4d done. Schmidt, meanwhile, said a4ALarry is ready a4 Ita4a4s time for him to have a shot at running this.a4 (Page was Googlea4a4s first CEO, but he stepped down from that role when the company hired Schmidt in 2001.)a4AA decadea4a4s a long time to be a CEO,a4 Schmidt concluded. a4AIa4a4m very much looking forward to the new role, a more strategic role.a4Next Story: Amid mobile boom, Toronto and its environs glitter (DEMO meetup photos) Previous Story: On the GreenBeat: DOE awards $967M loan guarantee for solar, Tesla to unveil Model X this yearPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: GooglePeople: Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Sergey Brin          Companies: GooglePeople: Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Sergey BrinAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter. 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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<title><![CDATA[Verizon picks up a bunch of buildings for $1.4B a4a4a4soh, and Terremark too]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-picks-up-a-bunch-of-buildings-for-1-4b-âÂ€Ââ oh-and-terremark-too</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-picks-up-a-bunch-of-buildings-for-1-4b-âÂ€Ââ oh-and-terremark-too</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marcelmmlc</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-picks-up-a-bunch-of-buildings-for-1-4b-âÂ€Ââ oh-and-terremark-too</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It turns out that the cloud is just a bunch of buildings.That&amp;'s what telecommunications provider Verizon is banking on by buying Terremark, which runs a number of data centers, for $1.4 billion to promote its &amp;''everything-as-a-service&amp;'' cloud strategy.Verizon announced today that it is buying Terremark for $19 a share a4&quot; a 35 percent premium on the company&amp;'s closing share price of $14.05. Shares of Terremark were up 36 percent in extended trading to $19.07 after the company made the announcement. The deal eats up a good portion of Verizon&amp;'s $5.4 billion cash on hand.But Verizon was already in bed with Terremark after renting out 25,000 square feet of storage space in two of its data centers in Miami, Fla., and Culpeper, Va. Verizon was renting out colocation space, which means other companies that work with Verizon can rent out space for servers that are physically closer to other business networks and speed up their services.The deal nets Verizon 13 data centers across the world, including a 750,000 square foot center in the U.S., Amsterdam and Brazil. While Verizon is spinning the purchase as a way to advance its cloud services, the deal really boils down to buying a lot of real estate for servers. Verizon can either continue to rent out the data centers or it can plant its own servers. They can be used for either additional data storage or to run applications remotely and stream the results through the Internet.That deal happened in July last year a4&quot; so it looks like Verizon has decided to just buy out the space it was already renting. It looks like it was a good time to make the purchase as well, as Terremark has been losing money for the past several years. The company lost $8 million in its most recent operating quarter, and another $8 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The company lost $42 million in 2010 and $10 million in 2009.Next Story: Sony throws the kitchen sink of gaming technology into NGP Previous Story: With LinkedIn, outsiders can get in on the PayPal mafia&amp;'s racketPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: cloud computing, enterpriseCompanies: Terremark, Verizon          Tags: cloud computing, enterpriseCompanies: Terremark, VerizonMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron. 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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